London exodus??

[Newdonewhugh]

Has anyone else noticed that their Town has a lot of people moving from London?
Are local Town and village FB pages literally have 2/3/4 people a day joining and posting with the likes of “I’m moving to ..... from London next week, can anyone help me with X,Y,Z”
My Sister and others said they’ve noticed it too.
We live in South Coast.
I just wonder what this New World will look like. What will happen to London?

My anecdata is that people selling in Mid Cornwall are getting full asking price offers from people that aren’t even looking at the property in person.

@kurtainwoz DH is a 4th generation Londoner!

Great grandpa fled the pogroms in Russia and lived in a tenement in the East End and worked as a tailor. Grandpa was a london blackcab driver who always says he hates london but still lives here. Parents bought a house in Hendon and raised 4 kids. DH was telling me the other day that he doesn't want to move outside London. our DC would be 5th generation londoners.

Given that his family lived in London through the blitz and his parents literally had 3 kids in a 1 bed flat before they were able to upgrade to a house, why would the pandemic mean that we move out.

@tectonicplates I'm talking about on this thread. I'm a born & raised Londoner as his DH.

I had a nose around Rightmove near us, coastal north Devon. Buyer beware, and have additional funds for making good. Stuff is selling very quickly & at high prices but it's often previously been on the market and failed to sell because it was too high/awful in tourist time/ local dodgy builder but had the garden done & a licknif paint.
If the market crashes (which it has done in my lifetime) they will find it hard to shift those properties because the traffic noise is high/that side of the valley get two hours of sun/the farmer next year will be growing maize and you won't get a view from your garden or ground floor.

@sally067 DHs magic circle law firm & DBs bank has told them it will never go back to normal i.e most days in the office.

@hopingforonlychild I think posters are misunderstanding me. I'm talking about this thread not London in general as some posters don't seem to be i.e no recollection of when London wasn't so desirable.

I’m in the very centre of London. No plans to move. I’ll keep the lights on and look after things for everyone
Have to say I know quite a few who are moving out.

I'll be moving somewhere cheaper after the pandemic is under control, if WFH remains - seems like it will at my company. I think it's foolish to do it now.

I think one of the long-term ramifications of COVID will be to equalise house prices somewhat. If fewer people are tied to a location for work, we won't all be forced to live in cities. Obviously some will always need to physically go to a workplace every day.

@kurtainwoz did they also say whether the pay would stay the same. I know facebook has said that pay would be earmarked to where the employees decide to move to.

I am not sure how many people would think the pay cut is worth it.

[quote kurtainwoz]@sally067 DHs magic circle law firm & DBs bank has told them it will never go back to normal i.e most days in the office. [/quote]
How many days are client meetings and are clients ok with zoom instead?

[quote kurtainwoz]@sally067 DHs magic circle law firm & DBs bank has told them it will never go back to normal i.e most days in the office. [/quote]
I wonder why they're so adamant, so quickly? We're still in bloody lockdown, fgs, making big announcements on the "forever" future sounds like fantasy to me.
People hear what they want to hear.

My BiL is a director of a well known national company. He says productivity has gone through the roof with wfh and they’re investigating the possibility of divesting the company of its expensive HQ offices.

Tbh knowing from people in professional services I’m surprised at never. Many are keen to restart back in.

DHs magic circle law firm & DBs bank has told them it will never go back to normal i.e most days in the office.

I think there’s a lot of people ‘hearing what they want to hear’ going on.

In the end, they’ll do what’s best for the business. In an environment where restrictions are all lifted, widespread vaccination happens, their competitors all go back, that decision might look totally different. It’s far too premature to say ‘never’.

@IcedPurple nowhere have I said there will be no need for an office or 100% remote working.

www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/linklaters-lawyers-to-work-remotely-up-to-half-of-the-time/5105415.article

Also sitting on zoom meetings all day is pretty shit for most people. I reckon we’ll go back quickly.

@JuliaJohnston, it's a bit more than an extra bedroom. All 5 are good sized doubles, 3 are en suite, it's got a massive high-end kitchen/diner/family room, a very large lounge, and a study, the annexe has a big double bedroom, kitchen/lounge and shower room, the garden is big and it has parking for at least 5 cars.

You could rent the annexe to a couple for £850 a month and not know they were there.

It's not my cup of tea (I like old, quirky houses) but the amount of space is phenomenal. It would make a great party house.

Yes i know of people moved and moving from London into villages further North. Asked why, replied can work from home now perhaps commute one day a week , less stress, violence, noise, but most of all can buy a huge house in the Midlands or North for the same price as a flat.

@hopingforonlychild Im confused, so what?

@hopingforonlychild yep, I think people forgot that many senior staff on say 1m a year already could wfh & often live in the home counties.

Don't get me wrong, I think the city is beautiful & hope it's not impacted.

@kurtainwoz For most of its history, London wasn't desirable. Thats why there were all those flats in Kensington and Chelsea- they were pied a terre for those people who couldn't afford a huge house in London to match their country estate.London was known as a place of business, not where you wanted the family to live, hence you needed part time lodgings. During the industrial revolution, millions came to london for jobs. The middle class left during the post war boom for the Home Counties. It was only in the 1990s where the UK became a service economy (and London was at the heart of it) that London became desirable.

But I still don't believe there would be a huge exodus. the UK has an acute shortage of homes.The gap between London and the SE has been closing even pre covid. a PP talked about the house in Tunbridge Wells for 1.2 million. Even pre covid, it was 800k. Some people might buy it cos they love tunbridge wells. Others would work out you can buy a house in north london for that price and stay there

There was an article in the times about how the treasury is pushing for an indefinite delay to introducing part time season tickets. travelling into london 3 X a week is the same as travelling in everyday. So you probably are not saving any money moving to the home counties if you are going to buy in an expensive commuter town too.

There’s a lot of movement within London from the centre to the leafy areas - SW London has much more action than the central boroughs.

DHs magic circle law firm & DBs bank has told them it will never go back to normal i.e most days in the office.

@kurtainwoz I'll believe it when I see it.

Were we told the same thing unofficially back in July - the finance director came very close to activating the break clause we had on our building lease. I suspect a lot of organisations thought the same thing too but are now or will be going back on that. Our company did a complete 180 and has now decided we will go back to the office full time once it is possible to do so.

[quote kurtainwoz]@hopingforonlychild Im confused, so what? [/quote]
It was in response to your comment about whether anyone's family is from london, which you clarified :)

In the end, they’ll do what’s best for the business.

100% the question is whether the huge swanky architect designed offices with free gyms, multiple subsided restaurants will represent good value or do they want a smaller footprint.