This year, 81,200 London residents have purchased properties outside the capital, nearly 20,000 fewer than the 2021 high of 100,540, the estate agency said, noting that migration out of the city is still higher than it was in the five years prior to the pandemic.
“London out migration appears to have passed its peak,” Aneisha Beveridge, head of research at Hamptons, said in the report.
First-time buyers, driven by affordability challenges, made up a record 28% of those buying outside the capital this year, equating to more than 22,000 transactions.
A sharp uptick in home prices across the country has meant that all buyers—first time and not—have typically moved further afield to get the space they’re looking for.
The average Londoner buying outside the city purchased a record 34 miles away, 1.2 miles further than last year, which itself was a record at the time, the report said.
“Next year, we expect the pace of London outmigration to cool further as pent-up demand from the Covid-related trend wanes,” Ms. Beveridge said. “But affordability pressures, and in particular the cost of higher interest rates, may mean that more Londoners are forced to move further afield to buy a home.”
“Our latest data suggests that first-time buyers in particular are sacrificing location in order to climb onto the housing ladder. And this looks set to put a floor under London outmigration numbers in 2023,” she said.
(source:barrons)
