Londoners leaving capital to buy a house up 19% – with most heading to Epping and Slough

Almost a fifth more Londoners are buying homes outside of the capital than before the pandemic, research has found.  

Londoners bought 40,540 homes outside of the city in the first half of this year, 19 per cent more than the average for the years 2015 to 2019 which was 34,140, according to research from Hamptons.

While the number of homes bought has fallen annually as the housing market has cooled, the rate at which people continue to leave London has remained the same. 

Londoners bought 7.9 per cent of all homes sold outside the capital from January to the end of June this year. 

This was the same proportion as in the first half of 2021, and up from 6.9 per cent in the first six months of 2019.

If this pace continues, Londoners are set to buy 88,210 homes outside the capital in 2022 as a whole, Hamptons said. 

This is equivalent to the total number of homes sold in Yorkshire & The Humber last year (88,506) and 18 per cent more than pre-Covid times when London purchases outside the capital averaged 74,980 each year between 2015 and 2019.

Many of those leaving London didn’t go far, however. One third of movers relocated to Epping Forest, an Essex borough neighbouring the capital to the North East.

Opting to go west, 22 per cent of movers chose Slough as their destination with 21 per cent settling in South Oxfordshire.

London has seen the slowest property growth rates of any area of the country since the pandemic, as working from home enabled some buyers to relocate further away from their offices. 

In the UK house prices climbed 12.8 per cent in the year to May 2022, according to official figures, but properties in London only saw a growth rate of 8.2 per cent.

First-time buyers leave in record numbers

First-time buyers made up a record number of the purchases for those moving outside of London, according to Hamptons. 

They accounted for 28 per cent of the total in the first six months of 2022, up from 22 per cent in 2019 and just 13 per cent a decade ago.

Among first-time buyers Thurrock was the most popular destination to move to, with over a third (34 per cent) of the group opting for the Essex borough. 

But many opted to stay closer to the capital with Dartford (28 per cent), Medway (20 per cent) and Basildon (18 per cent) all popular choices for first-time buyers.

By comparison, only half (50 per cent) of properties bought outside the capital by a Londoner were purchased by someone with a house to sell, down from 59 per cent in 2019 and 74 per cent a decade ago.

Aneisha Beveridge, head of research at Hamptons, said: ‘It’s becoming increasingly evident that one of the biggest Covid-related housing market trends – moving out of London for the country – could be here to stay. 

‘Despite more people returning to London offices this year, the rate at which households have upped sticks and headed out of town has continued apace.

‘While last year families relocating to gain more space accounted for nearly three in five Londoners buying outside the capital, this year the figures have been driven by first-time buyers, many of whom were renting in the capital.

The average Londoner moved 35 miles, according to Hamptons, which is the equivalent of trading Fulham for Farnham or Canary Wharf for Chelmsford. This was one mile further than in 2021. 

‘The distance London leavers move is likely to continue rising until at least 2024 as house price growth in the capital continues to lag behind the rest of the country,’ Beveridge said.

There has also been an uptick in the share of Londoners investing in buy-to-let property outside the capital. 

Investors made up 19 per cent of Londoners buying outside the capital this year, up from 15 per cent in 2019.

The appeal of higher yields further North has meant that 28 per cent of these investors purchased buy-to-lets in the North of England, up from just 11 per cent a decade ago. 

This is reflected in the fact that the average investor purchased 102.8 miles away from their London home so far this year, up from 77 miles in 2017.