More people are giving up their lives in the capital to find affordable housing elsewhere
Michele Marsland can remember the moment she knew she would never be able to afford to buy a house in London.
The publicist had spent nearly 20 years living in the capital and loved her life there – but when the one-bedroom ex-council flat across the road from her went up for sale for £500,000, she knew she would need to move.
“I just said to my husband, ‘we’re never going to be able to afford to live here’,” she told The i Paper.
Now 41, Ms Marsland lives in Leeds with her husband and two young children.
The family have joined a mass exodus of people who have given up their lives in the capital to find cheaper housing and a better quality of life elsewhere.
In 2023, about 860,000 people left London to live somewhere else in the UK – around 130,000 more than the 730,000 who decided to settle in the capital – according to Office for National Statistics figures.
It’s not difficult to see why. Recent figures from Rightmove showed the average cost of a home in London is over £200,000 more than the second most expensive region of the UK (the South-East).
First-time buyers made up a record 31 per cent of the Londoners purchasing a home outside the capital this year, a figure that has more than doubled since 2013, according to data from Hamptons.
Aneisha Beveridge, head of research at Hamptons, said: “The high income and savings bar needed to buy a home in London has pushed more aspiring homeowners to look beyond the capital for their first home.
“Looking ahead, we expect an uptick in London outmigration numbers next year as the capital’s property market begins to pick up as mortgage rates edge down
further.”
We spoke to people about the catalyst that led to them moving away from the capital.
‘We would probably still be struggling with renting’
Ms Marsland says that when she moved to Leeds, her rent decreased from £1,800 for her two-bed in Chiswick to £750 – a decrease of £1,000 per month.
This is despite the family moving into an equivalent two-bed flat in an affluent area.
They later bought a three-bedroom house in the city for just over £200,000.
Ms Marsland, who is originally from Sheffield, said she had considered buying in London but the properties she was looking at were on the outskirts and even then they were too expensive.
“We wouldn’t have been able to afford to buy a house if we still lived in London,” she said, adding that she believes she would still be struggling to afford the price of renting in the capital.
There are things she misses about London, like the “amazing things there on your doorstep” and the “familiarity of it”, but she says life up North feels “less pressured”.
“I love London but I wouldn’t choose to move back down there now,” Ms Marsland said.
The move has also allowed her and her husband, who works as a financial adviser, to be closer to their families and have more support in raising their two children.
‘We could only afford a studio flat’
For mother-of-two Haddy Folivi, moving out of London meant leaving the city she had grown up in.
The 47-year-old was born and raised in Hackney but feels she was driven out because “house prices were ridiculous for what we wanted”.
Ms Folivi had previously bought a flat in Enfield, north London, in 2005 and sold it in 2016 but says she didn’t make any money from it.
When she started to look to buy again during the pandemic, the only properties she could afford in London were studio flats or one-bed ex-council homes – hardly suitable for her and her 16 and 11-year-old children.
Instead she decided to pack up and move to Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, where she found a four-bed property for under £400,000.
“There is a much better quality of life here,” she said. “Me and the kids are happier, there are nice lakes nearby and the air is fresher.”
Ms Folivi is self-employed and works in publicity so says it was not too difficult to uproot her work life, but she had worried about her children as they would have to move schools and make new friends.
Luckily, she says they have settled in well.
Just like Ms Marsland, she says she would never consider moving back to London – but she does miss its diversity and how easy it was to find African Caribbean food and hair salons.
‘I no longer feel so stressed’
Eamonn Turley, 64, is also among the London leavers who moved because of high housing costs.
“If house prices had been affordable, I would have stayed in London,” he said.
But Mr Turley, who is the founder and chief executive of Multi Quote Time, said he was also seeking more space and closer proximity to nature.
He bought his property in Berkshire for about £450,000, and now has a large living space and a garden.
“My quality of life has improved greatly since leaving London. I no longer feel so much stress from the constant pressure of living in a city,” he said.
Plus, with the lower cost of living, he is able to invest more in leisure and family time.
One downside is that he now needs to commute for 45 minutes into London for work – but like the other leavers, he has no plans to move back.
Buying agents say the choice to stay in the capital or move somewhere cheaper is a common dilemma for many, particularly families and young couples.
Alex Greaves, managing director of Ridgestone Property, says he is seeing some clients relocating “somewhat reluctantly” because of house prices.
Many of those choose market towns across Surrey, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Kent as they still want to be within a reasonable commute of London and close to family and friends.
If the exodus continues, experts fear there could be an impact on the capital itself.
Thomas Goodman, property expert at MyJobQuote.co.uk, said: “A loss of talented
individuals and families could lead to a decline in the city’s economic vitality and cultural vibrancy.
“The future of London will likely depend on its ability to address this affordability crisis, invest in its infrastructure and public services and create a more diverse and inclusive economy that attracts and retains talent.”