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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be irritated by the Londoner exodus to my town?

999 replies

thesecondnamegame · 13/06/2021 17:04

I've been priced out of my Greater Manchester town by the London diaspora. Anybody who knows the area will know which town I mean. My tatty council town centre terrace is worth 300k. A load of Londoners came up after the BBC moved to Manchester. Half the kids in my kid's school's parents are from London and they love to make sure you know that. House prices have become ridiculous and are in a different world to the rest of Greater Manchester. It's ridiculous as it used to be a very unremarkable market town (albiet with not much to it) and now it's gone all 'naice' and I'm having to move 10 miles away because it's reaching the surrounding towns and I simply cannot afford to live here and I want to buy a property. It annoys me, I keep imagining somebody who had a London salary and bought a house in London, sold it, and came up here and bought a house 3 times bigger for the same price as their smaller London home. It just seems like they cheated. There are no school places either, because a lot of the Londoner's chose this particular town for the schools. The catchments are bloody tiny, I know somebody who lives in a village about 4 miles away. The schools in this town are the closest schools. No school would take her child and she ended up having to home educate for months.

All my relatives who bought properties or private rented have had to leave, even those who went to uni and got great jobs.

OP posts:
Northernsoullover · 13/06/2021 17:09

Its happening where I live too.

AngeloMysterioso · 13/06/2021 17:15

Are Londoners not allowed to leave London then?

DynamoKev · 13/06/2021 17:16

YANBU

shouldistop · 13/06/2021 17:18

Are Londoners not allowed to leave London then?

No, stay put please Grin

DynamoKev · 13/06/2021 17:19

@AngeloMysterioso

Are Londoners not allowed to leave London then?
Ideally not.
Pyewackect · 13/06/2021 17:19

A lot of them were threatened with redundancy if they didn't move.

OpalBerry · 13/06/2021 17:19

People complain if everything is based in London so they moved the BBC there. People can move to live where they want I guess

TheWaif · 13/06/2021 17:21

They love to let you know they're from London? What would they possibly get out of that?

KingAlex · 13/06/2021 17:21

Just because you live in London it doesn't mean you are stuck their and can never leave Confused
Lots of Londoners can't afford to buy in their hometowns either.

AppleSouffle · 13/06/2021 17:21

Same here. We couldn’t afford our house here now. Not complaining though as we have equity so have benefitted. My dc, on the other hand, will never be able to buy round here, even on high professional salaries.

OpalBerry · 13/06/2021 17:22

A local town for local people

TiltTopTable · 13/06/2021 17:22

I understand the issue with being a ftb but why do your relatives who bought properties have to leave?

Slankets · 13/06/2021 17:22

@AngeloMysterioso

Are Londoners not allowed to leave London then?
That is clearly not what the OP is saying but it is frustrating when houses are priced for an area and then people can sell their house for 3x more because there house was in the desirable area now nothing has changed except the houses where you live are now the desirable area but the work hasn't changed so you are effectively forced to move away your friends and family.

Where I live every other house is now a second home and local people cannot afford to live here anymore, a bog standard 3 bedroom bungalow on an estate recently went on the market for £650,000, 26 times the average wage for the area, local people just can't compete.

I'm not saying it's right or wrong and obviously everyone is free to move and live and do what they want but it's sad and a little unfair that people have to leave the area they grew up in, their parents and their friends simply to be able to afford to live.

SmidgenofaPigeon · 13/06/2021 17:23

A lot of them didn’t actually have any choice if they wanted to keep their jobs when they moved the bbc there.

People complain the industry is too London-centric, it moves to other cities and people still complain.

And FWIW DH works in TV, not the bbc, but we live in London and we are still priced out of the bloody place.

DareIask · 13/06/2021 17:23

Seems Greater Manchester is the new Cornwall 🙄

CarlaH · 13/06/2021 17:24

Well thats what happens when people moan that everything is based in London and job should be shared around the country.

Ostara212 · 13/06/2021 17:24

@TiltTopTable

I understand the issue with being a ftb but why do your relatives who bought properties have to leave?
I was confused by this too.
CoRhona · 13/06/2021 17:24

This has been going on for ever and definitely isn't just a London thing.

Years and years friends of mine sold a 3 bed terrace in Devon and bought a 4 bed detached and a new car in Blackpool.

shesellsseacats · 13/06/2021 17:24

@thesecondnamegame

I've been priced out of my Greater Manchester town by the London diaspora. Anybody who knows the area will know which town I mean. My tatty council town centre terrace is worth 300k. A load of Londoners came up after the BBC moved to Manchester. Half the kids in my kid's school's parents are from London and they love to make sure you know that. House prices have become ridiculous and are in a different world to the rest of Greater Manchester. It's ridiculous as it used to be a very unremarkable market town (albiet with not much to it) and now it's gone all 'naice' and I'm having to move 10 miles away because it's reaching the surrounding towns and I simply cannot afford to live here and I want to buy a property. It annoys me, I keep imagining somebody who had a London salary and bought a house in London, sold it, and came up here and bought a house 3 times bigger for the same price as their smaller London home. It just seems like they cheated. There are no school places either, because a lot of the Londoner's chose this particular town for the schools. The catchments are bloody tiny, I know somebody who lives in a village about 4 miles away. The schools in this town are the closest schools. No school would take her child and she ended up having to home educate for months.

All my relatives who bought properties or private rented have had to leave, even those who went to uni and got great jobs.

If it's any consolation it's happening to Londoners too, that's why they're in Manchester (or wherever).

My parents bought their family house in inner London (zone 2) for £15k. Now, that house is worth about £2million (they don't still live in it).

No way can I afford to own a house where I grew up, nor can any of my friends, none are in inner London any more and most have left London entirely.

The Tories have encouraged this by allowing houses to be traded as assets and destroying social housing. Although Labour didn't do anything to reverse it, to be fair.

This is a nationwide problem that needs a political solution. This government are not offering it though.

Original poster
thesecondnamegame · 13/06/2021 17:25

Somebody born and raised in London who was able to go to uni and go into a job on a London salary is incredibly privileged. They had the opportunity buy a shoebox in London, stay there while it builds equity for a year or 2, then sod off up to Manchester and buy a 4 bed semi-detached without batting an eyelid because it's "Oh so cheap compared to London!" When lots of people are doing that it then unnaturally inflates the local house economy and so they all benefit even more. The issue is, it doesn't work the other way round. All that happens is house prices sky rocket and the locals have to leave so the town just becomes London away from London with the ridiculous house prices and pathetic school catchments to go with it.

OP posts:
Charley50 · 13/06/2021 17:26

It's awful, but many, many Londoners are also priced out of London too, and have been for years.. UK house prices are just shit, especially with the government meddling to keep them artificially high.

Nohomemadecandles · 13/06/2021 17:26

Why would you have to move.if you'd already bought? It's not an invasion!

I think you are being unreasonable. It's fab to have media city around here. It's bringing a lot to the area.

I'm assuming you're Altrincham?

BuffySummersReportingforSanity · 13/06/2021 17:26

Genuine question, what do you want people whose jobs have moved to do?

Your beef surely is with your former neighbours who sold their properties to ex Londoners at inflated prices. I'm sure the Londoners would have been just as happy to pay the previous market rate.

Boomshakalack · 13/06/2021 17:26

YABU. People can live where they want.

Original poster
thesecondnamegame · 13/06/2021 17:26

I mean they had to leave to buy their properties.

OP posts: