The grim reality of homebuyers swapping London for the countryside

As Londoners get rid of the shackles of office life and start a new life, the population of the capital is expected to decrease by 300,000 this year.

However, in addition to getting used to a world without Uber or Deliveroo, without overnight shops and subways, they may have to face a disturbing fact.

“We are kind of naive to think that we can sell our house in Southfield and buy a house. There is nothing magnificent, but there is a little land,” said Robin Green, who sold her and shared it with her husband Andrew The family home, with their three children, nine-year-old Willow, five-year-old Sebastian and three-year-old Emilyn, last summer.

In fact, the family found that the prices in the county they chose were much higher. Kent, Better than they thought. They eventually had to compromise, raise their mortgages, and borrow from their families to achieve this move.

The family has lived happily in Southfield for eight years, but before the pandemic they decided to raise their children in the country.

They chose Tunbridge WellsBecause of its grammar school and easy commute to London, 43-year-old Andrew is a bank manager, and Robin’s cake shop Cakes By Robin is still open.

They put the house on the market in December 2019 and almost immediately found a buyer willing to pay £1.07 million. Then Covid happened and the buyer withdrew.

They waited until last summer and found a buyer willing to pay 1 million pounds. Although this means that Covid has already cost them £70,000, they are still confident that they can find a good house with a seven-figure budget.

Before the children started school and started looking for a house, they moved to a rented house in Kent in time. “In our budget, there are not many things on the market,” Robin said.

Finally, the family decided to stretch their muscles and bought a four-bedroom cottage for 1.175 million pounds, which was about the size of their old house.

However, it does have eight acres of land, and in London, they have a “mini garden”.

“This is beyond the budget of £175,000,” Robin said. “We had to increase our mortgage and borrow some money from family members to do this.”

Londoners have long felt guilty for overestimating that the proceeds of a sale in the capital would buy them, but a perfect storm is now conspiring against them.

Propertymark’s latest housing market report found that there are currently 16 buyers for every available property on the market. One-third (32%) of properties sold for more than the asking price, which is the highest number on record.

This The latest UK house price indexAt the same time, the annual price increase in the UK is more than 10%, but in London it is less than 4%.

To make matters worse, most people who leave London want more space. According to Savills’ exclusive analysis, this may require a larger mortgage.

The study compared the typical selling prices of apartments and townhouses in London with the cost of a series of detached houses in ideal out-of-town areas.

The survey found that movers who own Stratford apartments can expect to sell their homes for an average of £444,000. On the other side of London, people who sell Chiswick apartments can make an average of £516,000.

Londoners will get greater returns from selling their houses. The average price of a terrace in East Finchley is £814,000, while in Wimbledon, a row house has broken the £1 million mark.

The problem is that the high prices of some of the most established commuter honeypots in the capital means they will be far beyond the capacity of most London exiles.

The average prices of Berkhamsted, Henley on Thames, Sunningdale and Ascot are all well above £1 million. The average price in Guildford is well above £900,000, and if you dream of owning a Cotswold cottage, prepare to spend £737,000.

If you don’t want to give up city life completely, you can choose a small city.

But remember, the average price of a Brighton & Hove house is as high as £894,000, Cambridge will cost you £884,000, and the lovely Winchester will cost you £837,000.

Only when you are ready to stay away from the commute halo of London will you begin to discover value.

In Bristol, the average house price is £529,000-although with this budget, you won’t get the trendy Clifton, the Chelsea of ​​the western country, you need to focus on the suburbs, or look at the terrace in the lively Southville Or around Totterdown.

If your exit strategy is coastal areas, you will need to pay extra for the opportunity to taste the salt in the air instead of a lot of pollution.

The average price of a detached house in the commuter-friendly, upcoming Folkestone or Southend is between £500,000 and £600,000.

But the glory of the North Norfolk Coast or the smart South Hams will set you back north of 600,000 pounds.

Lewis houses in the lovely South Downs town are convenient on the south coast, but less fanatical and tourist record than the resort-priced accordingly, with an average house price of £864,000.

If all this sounds very frustrating, then there are some more affordable options where the proceeds from the London auction will buy you a very decent house without affecting your lifestyle.

Bishops’s Stortford (average detached house: £635,000) is a quality market town Hertfordshire Good commute connections, but no price tag you will find Surrey.

Petersfield Hampshire There is also the feeling of a wealthy market town, only 25 miles from Guildford. But the average house price is 664,000 pounds, and you can save nearly 250,000 pounds.

More left-field options include Leighton Buzzard, a lovely regency city, with an average price of £459,000 for a detached house.

If you are fascinated by Kent’s grammar school, Tonbridge is much cheaper than the famous Sevenoaks or Tunbridge Wells, averaging £647,000.

Although it does not have so many shops and restaurants, it has everything you need, a lot of open space and good commuting.

The market town of Woodbridge, Suffolk, Provides excellent access to the east coast (think Aldeburgh or Southwold day trips), but the price is relatively low, at £560,000.

Stamford is another very lovely market town in the neglected Lincolnshire. You can buy an ordinary detached house there for a little over £450,000-or roughly the same as the average price paid by first-time buyers for a London apartment.