Record number of Londoners moving out of Capital

Londoners selling up amid highest prices on record

A record number of Londoners moved out of the capital over the last 12 months amid the highest prices on record. Most households moved to areas outside of the capital but with commuting distance of London. 58,000 homeowners took the decision to move and spent a total of £21bn. Sellers are taking advantage of the high prices and the reality that they are able to buy a detached 4 bedroom house for the same price that they can get for a 2 bed flat in an average part of London.

Most families that took the plunge cited schools as their major reason for moving out of London and the possibly that prices would start to increase in the suburbs and would make their moves less attractive. House prices in London have increased faster than anywhere else and it is possible that this trend could be reversed in the short term. Selling up now and moving to a much bigger property is very attractive to many Londoners. This is demonstrated by the fact they the gap between the average home in London and the rest of the UK now stands at £280,000.

The areas to benefit from the exodus of Londoners were Hertforfshire, Surrey and Brentwood. Soaring house prices in London have made these areas look cheap in comparison but t is not just high prices that are persuading Londoners to move. It is also part of a a natural city cycle for as the flow of families. The recent turmoil in the housing market has meant that families had been unable to move and there has been pent up demand that was waiting for the right conditions to get going again.

Many families were unable to move in the downturn because of a number of reasons. The banks and building societies were not lending and nobody was moving. The new interest rate regime and the plethora of new incentives introduced by the government has now reversed all of that and the property market has seen some meteoric price increases of late. Now Londoners are taking advantage and moving home.