Proportion of Londoners buying homes outside capital drops – study

The proportion of Londoners buying homes outside the capital fell back this year to its lowest level since 2013, according to estimates from a property firm.

Londoners purchased 5.7% of homes sold in Britain but outside the capital in 2024, according to Hamptons.

The analysis is based on sales by Countrywide estate agency brands, to track where Londoners leaving the capital have been moving to.

Strong house price growth outside the capital over the last decade has reduced the amount of extra space London leavers can buy, researchers said.

However, first-time buyers were calculated to have made up nearly a third (31%) of the Londoners purchasing a home outside the capital this year, a figure that has more than doubled since 2013.

Excluding second home buyers and landlords, London leavers moved 33.1 miles to their new home on average in 2024.

This is 5.3 miles further than the average recorded by Hamptons between 2015 and 2019.

The average London leaver selling a home in the capital now moves 45.4 miles.

Meanwhile, the typical first-time buyer moved 25.5 miles this year, down from 26.3 miles in 2023.

Researchers added that Blackpool in Lancashire has seen a jump in Londoners buying properties compared with five years ago.

But this is often due to investment property purchases, rather than relocations, researchers said.

The average gross yield on a new buy-to-let purchase in Blackpool reached 10.1% this year, compared with 5.7% in London.

Aneisha Beveridge, head of research at Hamptons, said: “Stagnant or falling property prices in parts of the capital have limited equity growth, while house prices elsewhere have risen much more quickly since Covid.

“With a trophy home slipping out of reach, many London homeowners have opted to stay put or move even further out of the capital to get more house for their money.

“First-time buyers have been the exception to the rule, with many keen to escape the capital’s rental market.

“As mortgage rates have fallen this year, it’s generally become cheaper to buy than rent again, even with a small deposit.

“However, 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.

“This could encourage a generation of more recent homeowners who have been restrained for a decade by limited or no price growth in the capital to make their move.

“But with mortgage rates likely to remain above historic levels, we expect more of these movers to look further afield to secure the home they could have bought in the Home Counties a decade ago.”