Demand for jobs and homes outside London DOUBLES as coronavirus sparks exodus from cities with workers looking to move away from populated areas after lockdown
- Estate agents outside capital have reported spike in demand from city-dwellers
- In April, proportion of Londoners looking to buy outside capital doubled 8-15%
- Londoners hunting for work outside capital jumped 20 to 51% during lockdown
- Lockdown left many cooped-up in claustrophobic urban flats yearning space
London is facing an exodus of home-buyers and workers who are instead eyeing up less populated locations to settle down after lockdown, analysis has revealed.
Estate agents outside the capital have reported a spike in demand from city-dwellers, who are being particularly tempted by the South.
In April, the proportion of Londoners as a total of Britons looking for houses outside the capital almost doubled from 8 per cent to 15 per cent, according to Hamptons.
It coincided with the peak of the pandemic when Britons were instructed to stay at home, leaving many cooped-up in claustrophobic urban flats and yearning for greater outdoor space.
The surge in prospective homeowners trying to leave the capital was mirrored by separate figures for job-hunters seeking work outside London.
Careers advice company Escape the City said the number of Londoners as a proportion of those wanting work outside the city had more than doubled, jumping from 20 per cent to 51 per cent.
Hamptons estate agency compared the proportion of Londoners registering with its non-capital branches from the months of March, April and May in both 2019 and 2020
In April, the proportion of Londoners as a total of Britons looking for houses outside the capital almost doubled from 8 per cent to 15 per cent, according to Hamptons, before dipping slightly in May, but still remaining high above the trend for the last decade
Aylesbury Vale: Last year, Londoners amounted to 28 per cent of Aylesbury Vale's total customers, wheres this year, during lockdown, the figure swelled to 44 per cent
Worthing, West Sussex: In 2019, Londoners only amounted to 6 per cent of those trying to find houses in Worthing through Hamptons. In 2020 in the same period, it more than doubled to 15 per cent
Worthing in West Sussex, saw one of the biggest increases in demand from city-dwellers, according to Hamptons estate agency which compared the amount of Londoners registering with its non-capital branches from the months of March, April and May in 2019 and 2020.
In 2019, Londoners only amounted to 6 per cent of those trying to find houses in Worthing through Hamptons. In 2020 in the same period, it more than doubled to 15 per cent.
Last year, Londoners amounted to 28 per cent of Aylesbury Vale, Buckinghamshire's, total customers, whereas this year, during lockdown, the figure swelled to 44 per cent.
Demand from Londoners in Medway, Kent, rose from 29 per cent to 40 per cent and Tandridge, Surrey, increased from 54 per cent to 63 per cent.
Locations on the commuter belt with easy links into the capital were found to be the most attractive to prospective home-owners.
Medway, Kent: Demand from Londoners in Medway, Kent, rose from 29 per cent to 40 per cent (Rochester castle pictured)
Charnwood, Leicestershire: Demand from Londoners in Charnwood, rose from 3 per cent to 12 per cent
Epping, Essex: Of those registered with the Epping, Essex, branch, 70 per cent are from London
Similarly, of those registered with the Epping, Essex, branch, 70 per cent are from London.
Yet while this suggests many people leaving London are still planning to commute in for work, separate research found job-hunters are increasingly looking for jobs outside the capital.
The amount of job-hunters trying to find work of of London has more than doubled in the last fortnight compared with the same period last year, Escape the City careers advisory service found.
Dominic Jackman, the founder of Escape the City, said: 'Pre-Covid, while our jobseekers wanted to 'escape the rat race', a lot of them actually were happy living and working in London.
But he added: 'For the first time ever we have more people wanting to leave London than stay in it which is a huge shift in aspirations.'
The proportion of applicants from London who registered to buy a home in the Midlands or North has remained 'pretty flat' at 4 per cent and 2 percent, respectively.
The average Londoner looking for a home outside the capital had a budget of £422,000, but 5 per cent have a budget of £1million-plus, Hamptons said.
The surge in demand for both jobs and houses outside London reflects a shift in Britons' preferences during the pandemic, Savills real estate adviser claims.
Lucian Cook, head of residential research, said he had been 'surprised at the extent to which lockdown has made people reassess their housing needs and, more pertinently, act upon it'.
Savills own research showed that the average flat prices have fallen more than average house prices in London, bucking the trend for the past five years.
Across the prime London market, 97 per cent of Savills' agents reported an increased demand for homes with a garden or outdoor space, 82 per cent have seen more demand for a separate place to work from home, and 71 per cent report the appetite to be near to a local park has grown.
Savills also found evidence that a growing number of people are looking to buy top-end properties away from London, backing up the Hamptons research.
More than four-fifths of Savills' agents reported increased demand for village homes, and 90 per cent greater demand for country locations.
Across its offices, staff have reported an uptick in buyers from London - with nearly a third 32 per cent of new applicants in the country coming from London compared with 21 per cent last year.
In central London, where restriction on international travel has constrained demand from overseas buyers, prime property prices fell by 1.2 per cent over the quarter
Prime central London includes Kensington, Mayfair, Notting Hill, Westminster and Knightsbridge.
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