Londoners led the charge of homeowners leaving UK cities during the pandemic, snapping up a record 61,830 homes outside the capital in the first six months of the year, according to Hamptons.
Buyers from London made up 8.6% of all home sales outside the capital, up from 6.6% in 2020, the highest level since the estate agent started its survey in 2006.
The rise in flexible working combined with the return of higher value property loans also saw 40% of first-time buyers leave the capital to buy a home.
This exodus means that “London’s population is likely to fall this year”, the report claims.
The average Londoner buying outside the capital bought 34.6 miles away, 12%, or 3.6 miles, further than before the pandemic in 2019, meaning that 75% of London buyers purchased properties in the first half of this year in Southern England.
There were eight local authorities where Londoners accounted for more than half of buyers so far this year, with Tandridge, Hertsmere and Three Rivers topping the list.
But coastal retreats such as Great Yarmouth, Thanet, which includes Margate, and Canterbury, which includes Whitstable, jumped in popularity, with Londoners buying more than 20% of homes so far this year in each area.
The average Londoner paid £389,975 for their new property, which means they spent a total of £24.1bn on homes outside the capital so far this year, more than twice the £11.9bn they spent in the first half of 2019.
The average first-time buyer spent £318,300 on their first home outside the capital, £160,000, or 33%, less than someone who sold a home in London to move.
Hamptons head of research Aneisha Beveridge says: “Pandemic-fuelled city outmigration shows no signs of slowing. Despite lockdowns easing and offices and restaurants reopening, Londoners have continued to re-evaluate where they want to live, with many bringing future-planned moves forward.
“While London now attracts more buyers from outside the capital than pre-pandemic, the numbers are still low relative to those leaving, meaning London’s population is likely to fall this year.”
UK house transactions across the country lifted by 52% during the first six months of this year compared with the same period in 2019, however, purchases by Londoners outside the capital jumped by 85% on the 33,480 homes they bought in the same period two years ago.
The report added that investors and second home buyers made up 20% of Londoners buying outside the capital, equating to 12,360 house purchases – nearly the same number of homes sold in Birmingham in 2019, when 12,800 homes were sold.
Hamptons Beveridge says: “The mix of those buying beyond the capital though has changed, with first-time buyers more likely to leave London than ever before.
“While second home buyers and investors have been spurred on by the stamp duty holiday, much of the uplift in Londoners looking outside the M25 over the last year has come from those buying their first home.
“This has been largely driven by affordability and flexible working patterns that have enabled people to work from home. The capital’s loss has been the Home Counties gain.”
Beveridge adds: “If current trends continue, we calculate that by the end of this year Londoners will have purchased 108,000 homes outside the capital.
“This will mark the first time that this figure has surpassed the 100,000 mark since 2007, a year when nearly 1.7 million homes were sold across Great Britain.
“But given many Londoners have bought forward moves, and overall activity is predicted to slow, we expect this number to fall back over the next few years.
“Although it’s still likely to sit above the 72,000 average we saw in the three years leading up to the pandemic.”
