Home moves out of London are being driven by need rather than desire, due to higher mortgage rates, according to an estate agent.
The average "London leaver" spent £429,800 on their new home this year, £63,735 less than those in 2022.Aneisha Beveridge, of Hamptons, said: "The likelihood that mortgage rates will stay higher for longer may keep the pace of London outmigration up." Londoners made up 7.7% of home buyers outside the capital in Britain during the first half of this year, outpacing the 2015 to 2019 average of 6.9%, according to estimates from Hamptons.
The figure is slightly below the 7.9% recorded in 2021 and 2022, when people were changing their lifestyles and working from home more regularly. Londoners leaving the city are also buying smaller properties, with 37% purchasing a one or two-bed home, up from a third last year.