is everyone leaving London?

[ellie1984]

There seem to be lots of zoopla alerts popping up in my inbox at the moment. We were looking around for a new place and were wondering if lots of families are leaving their areas? In particular, I guess we were looking at zones 2-3 but are now feeling like we're missing a trick. Is everyone around you really leaving? Both DH and I will still have to be working on-site so can't just get up and leave.

We don’t know anyone who has/is moving. I love living in London and won’t be going anywhere.

I don't live in London but currently trying to move out of a town in the south west to a house in the country. Viewed a house today and the owner said he was amazed by how many viewings he'd had from families coming down from London.

No. I’m in zone 2 and don’t know anyone in houses that are moving. But there are a lot of flats on the market - lots on my road alone.

Zone 1 here, no one we know is moving but many without children going to the countryside temporarily either renting or second homes.

Five houses have sold in my London street in the last 6 months, but all have been snapped up quickly. So if people are moving out, others are moving in to take their places. The shift seems to be older couples moving out as children have grown up and left home, and younger families moving in to take advantage of the v. popular primary school a few streets away.

I think people assume too much with covid and have forgotten how employment works.

The govt is telling people to stay at home. Not a lot your employer can do to override that.

Once this blows over is every employer going to vary the contract of employment of every employee so they can wfh full or part time? I doubt that very much.

People are saying their employers will have to a lot to convince them back to the office. They don't have to convince you of anything they tell you to come back to the place named on your contract.

Don't all sell up yet

Yes. We have and many of our friends are looking to make the move too. 7 houses up for sale now on our old street. All except 1 are planning on leaving London.

@Newuser991 some people are saying that their employers have given up their offices. thats not the case for me at all, but does that mean that people who have lost their physical offices can sell up? this is unprecendented but is there a chance that such an employer can decide a year on that this isn't working and find some new offices. Then you would be in cornwall a year from now and asked to go back to the office. But that sounds quite unreasonable to me!

Nope. Over my dead body. If I have to leave London, I’ll be leaving the UK.

No-one's budging from our area of London and there's a constant stream on Nextdoor of newly moved in people

People always leave London. Most people I know tend to move out of London by the time their second child comes along!! I’m buying my first London home and only plan to stay maybe 4 years then move home to Ireland.

I don’t think people are suddenly moving at the drop of a hat ?

This isn’t just a London thing, I think there will be changes for longer term for some industries to bosses’ expectations about office working. A lot of companies have gone virtual or slashed their office space rental space down to fraction of pre-Covid desk space to save costs. That affects all of the company staff at every level. After a while culture will change as we all get used to working more remotely. It could be several years that we work like this.

I left a few months ago but it was a move planned for quite a while, the house sale went slower due to Covid but we eventually moved in July. I am trying to sell a flat there to buy a place here on the coast (DH and I have separated so need to buy two) but it’s not selling. It’s unexpected it’s not selling as it was considered a good option with a lot going for it. So I’ve been forced into renting it out. Half of me is quite relieved as, although it means renting and not buying here on the coast, there’s something quite reassuring about keeping a place in London. I love London and can’t wait to visit again when we are allowed to socialise. I don’t see myself living there again as my cool coastal city is only an hour away
On the train and I love it here too.

@ellie1984

oh a lovely big house does sound great. sadly we've done the maths and small house+train outside London = small place+tube in London - so we'll be stuck here then. Just hoping to pick the right area so it doesnt get completely deserted in a year or two

It won't be a desert, don't worry. Many Londoners still have family in London and will want to stay nearby - for childcare as well as family support networks.

Permanent WFH full-time doesn't work for many individuals and companies. We have vaccines ready to roll out over the coming months. Things will change again.

People have been leaving London for years before the pandemic. Not always by choice. Many are priced out. Covid has simply pushed forward some people's moves away, especially with the stamp duty holiday. Renters moving out to buy, divorce forcing a move somewhere cheaper, families looking for more space and greenery as they get older.

On the other hand, lots of other people are staying - and moving in. Retirees wanting to live close to the buzz, young professionals also after the buzz, parents attracted by good schools.

It's swings and roundabouts.
Some of the homes you're seeing for sale are landlords selling up, rather than people leaving.

Well I am in sw and house prices here are going up as people are moving out of london , pricing us locals out though as salaries here aren't so good

It's awful isn't it, people being priced away from their families and support networks.
Been happening in London for years.
Moving by choice is so different from being forced out. This is why we need mass availability of council housing (and a more balanced employment situation across the UK). Stable affordable housing for all who need it - wherever in the country they need or want to settle.

@whataboutbob it's tricky to say, as it depends on so many things.
We moved at a bit of a weird time as DC were 12 and 15 and they went to school 20 mins away from where we lived.
We bought a doer upper property, so we're looking with a radius of a school rather than a particular village/place.
The downside was we had no inroads into the village, so my DC never made friends where we lived.
If you are going to do it I think do it when your DC are in primary school.
We spent all our time in the car the kids had no way of getting around independently, (which was hard for the eldest who was already using the tube etc) although the eldest learned to drive asap, not many of our London friends DC have bothered to learn to drive.
My DC are delighted that we are now planning to buy in London, although it will be very different as it will be a small flat.
For a long time we had the big house that their friends could come for sleepovers at, which was lovely but now they have no interest whatsoever in being in the countryside.

@Itscoldouthere thank you for taking the time to answer my question. I think the pull of the big house is a strong part of the English psyche, which was hard for me to let go of as we live in a flat here in London . It’s nice you had the experience of space at least.
I did feel that by the time I was no longer tied to being close to my elderly parent it was too late to move. Our next plan is to move out of London, to a smaller city when the kids leave home. I hope the move back to London works out brilliantly for you, personally I suspect the current trend for migrating out of the capital will just be temporary.

@SheepandCow and cow I do agree with you. Firstly, there’s always been churn in and out of the capital. And second, we definitely need more a sustainable housing market here, although I see no sign of that.

Family sized houses selling fast in my area of London.

[quote whataboutbob]@Itscoldouthere, in retrospect do you think your kids were better off growing out in the countryside, or in London or do you feel either can be ok? I’m raising my kids in London ( teenagers now) and don’t have plans to leave. I did think of it about 6 up years ago but an increasingly poorly parent meant I couldn’t move away and by the time it was over the kids were in secondary. Curious to know if rural is better.[/quote]
My DC have found that the most insular young people in their age group are from the London region. (As a sweeping generalisation) they don't have a clue about life outside the M25 until they go away to University, they live in bubble.

Zone 2 N London here and no more than usual turnover of families at our primary school (one moved abroad over the summer). I have a colleague with young children who's planning a move from Zone 3 to the country, but that's been in the works for a while. We have no plans to leave our lovely outer corner of an "Inner London" borough.

I grew up in a much more small town area (on the fringes of the commuter belt) and hated it, nothing to do locally and was reliant on my parents to drive me everywhere.

Most companies are committed to long term leases on their offices and those won't be going anywhere soon. My employer has said we will need to be in the office min 2 days a week post-Covid, but flexi season tickets are going to happen so some people who always wanted to move out will be able to do so.

@Thecazelets

Five houses have sold in my London street in the last 6 months, but all have been snapped up quickly. So if people are moving out, others are moving in to take their places. The shift seems to be older couples moving out as children have grown up and left home, and younger families moving in to take advantage of the v. popular primary school a few streets away.

Yep same in our street in Z4, seem to be a lot of houses for sale but as you say getting picked up rather quickly

Not from what I’ve seen in our corner of London, lots of quick sales seem to be happening judging by for sale signs changing to sale agreed/sold

Same in my bit of London - properties are going under offer about a week after coming onto the market! We live in an area with very generous sized gardens though - I wonder if that could be why?

*I think people assume too much with covid and have forgotten how employment works.

The govt is telling people to stay at home. Not a lot your employer can do to override that.

Once this blows over is every employer going to vary the contract of employment of every employee so they can wfh full or part time? I doubt that very much.

People are saying their employers will have to a lot to convince them back to the office. They don't have to convince you of anything they tell you to come back to the place named on your contract.

Don't all sell up yet*

This ^^

There will be a change in some places. But most employers are realising how hard it is to maintain productivity, hold useful meetings, train new staff etc when everyone is WFH. So I wouldn’t be betting a move across the country on it.

I’m zone 2, no one I know has moved.