London Exodus

[Maynardgravy]

I mentioned a while ago that I knew of two doctors who were (now have) left the London area to move to Manchester and Newcastle. It seems to me, in my little world, that the situation is gathering momentum.

Four doctors I know as acquaintances are moving from London t'up north for a better standard of life and only today I got a text from a mate in the RAF to tell me that he and his missus have been accepted for a transfer to Lincoln for (you guessed it) cost of living reasons.

There was also a snippet on London today where people living on barges are being 'encouraged' to move on from their moorings under threat of prosecution. Two of them were a couple of teachers for christ's sake!!!!

London has really become the home of the uber rich and the poor. There'll be plenty of **** wipers but no palliative care to be had soon.

So it literally won't end well at this rate.

[The Masked Tulip]

Well, people can now sell up in London and buy a very nice home in the regions. So that is one reason.

Secondly, the country will simply import more immigrants and, without most people realising, the key jobs in London will increasingly be filled by immigrants and those people will have increasing influence over the rest of us.

[stormymonday_2011]

Secondly, the country will simply import more immigrants and, without most people realising, the key jobs in London will increasingly be filled by immigrants and those people will have increasing influence over the rest of us.

Well maybe not on Scotland after the next election and possibly not on Wales and the North a decade or so after that date if the UK eventually fractures apart politically as is looking ever more possible now.

[The Masked Tulip]

Well maybe not on Scotland after the next election and possibly not on Wales and the North a decade or so after that date if the UK eventually fractures apart politically as is looking ever more possible now.

I am half expecting to be lynched within the next 5 years. Probably sooner.

[StainlessSteelCat]

Yes, selling up in London and moving out of the South East is the equivalent of a pools win for many. A good chance you can be both mortgage-free and have better accommodation.

If you don't already own in London, at least you have a chance to if you get out.

I suspect, however, it's a time of life thing. If you hit your mid 30s and still have crap accommodation in London, and likely an awful commute - and no real hope of changing that situation - then I know from experience that the message is heard loud and clear - London doesn't want or need you.

For others, especially those with kids, it's other quality of life factors which make them think I need to get out.

Also if you arrived in London in your 20s, then by your mid 30s - you are likely beginning to realise that you don't get quite have the energy levels to appreciate its many attractions.

So called key workers have actually had it reasonably OK in London in the past i.e. relatively easy to get into social housing. If they are now struggling then things must be getting bad.

Edited March 13, 2015 by StainlessSteelCat

[Digsby]

I started a thread based on an article a couple of weeks ago, I think it was called housing confidence at all time high.

The article had some stats about the number of Londoners intending to move out this year.

From memory, if you calculated it, it suggested that 1.7% intend to.

Thats a lot of people! I don't think that many would be able to get the price they expect.

Edited March 13, 2015 by Digsby

[Wurzel Of Highbridge]

It always made me sick that people who bought a flat in London could sell up and move to places like Devon and Cornwall buying up the desirable houses, whilst the locals have to live in cramped shitty accommodation.

A nice 50% collapse in London prices would rectify this situation and restore some justice.

[Guest_growlers_*]

Doctor is a good example of a job you can easily relocate with. Work in financial services. Not so much.

[Hairy1305]

I moved out of the SE aged 46 with a young family and it was the best thing I could do. I occasionally go back for work purposes and it scares me how I lived like that for so long. Now have a, relative, palace and massive garden in a small village for 70% of the 3 bed I had back there. I can't see why more don't, especially given how much prices in the SE accelerated over the rest of the country since I left.

[jammin35]

It always made me sick that people who bought a flat in London could sell up and move to places like Devon and Cornwall buying up the desirable houses, whilst the locals have to live in cramped shitty accommodation.

A nice 50% collapse in London prices would rectify this situation and restore some justice.

Quite.

I've long thought that stamp duty should be devolved to councils. A 50% stamp duty on non residents would soon sort this problem out.

[StainlessSteelCat]

Doctor is a good example of a job you can easily relocate with. Work in financial services. Not so much.

And that is a bonkers situation to be in. I suspect most London financial services jobs involve sitting in front a screen most of the day.

[winkie]

It always made me sick that people who bought a flat in London could sell up and move to places like Devon and Cornwall buying up the desirable houses, whilst the locals have to live in cramped shitty accommodation.

A nice 50% collapse in London prices would rectify this situation and restore some justice.

Sounds much like how young Londoners are being forced to live....if anyone is priced out young Londoners most certainly are, lower prices everywhere would benefit everyone looking for a home to buy to live in, London house prices have and will always be more expensive, agree the gap between London and the rest of the country, like for like needs to close.

I moved out of the SE aged 46 with a young family and it was the best thing I could do. I occasionally go back for work purposes and it scares me how I lived like that for so long. Now have a, relative, palace and massive garden in a small village for 70% of the 3 bed I had back there. I can't see why more don't, especially given how much prices in the SE accelerated over the rest of the country since I left.

...could be because they like what they know, don't want to risk it, their work/business is based there, they own nothing that they could sell, family and other commitments.

Most of the people I have met, say 80% would never move back now they have left....only work keeps many tied to a particular place.

And that is a bonkers situation to be in. I suspect most London financial services jobs involve sitting in front a screen most of the day.

With improved technology more screen sitting jobs can be based anywhere, two days in the office or on the move, three days working from home becoming more the norm....the part-time long-haul commuter.

[rantnrave]

London house prices have and will always be more expensive, agree the gap between London and the rest of the country, like for like needs to close.

According to recent house price indices, the gap is closing - prices in the regions are picking up compared to a more static situation in London. I doubt this is what you had in mind though!

[winkie]

According to recent house price indices, the gap is closing - prices in the regions are picking up compared to a more static situation in London. I doubt this is what you had in mind though!

Which regions?........regions with daily access to work, around the major hubs?.......the majority of regions have stayed stable, stagnant, nothing much changed in the last five or ten years....a good thing IMO.

[Fully Detached]

There's a reason why there isn't a TV series called "Sex in the Village". They're all over 80.

If you're young and active, then city life is the best I think. Maybe when you're hitched with kids, that is the time to call it quits and move to the 'burbs.

Keep moving out as you age. And then back in again when you can't drive any more.

Oi!

There were plenty of good times to be had in the local hay barns when I was a lad!

[2buyornot2buy]

Are doctor's pay not constrained nationally?

Why work in London, with high house prices, when you can move up North and be on similar money?

My wife was recently offered a job in her London office. Less work, at more that double the salary.

We didn't even consider it. We'd have a better quality of life in Belfast on 100k than in London on 250k.

[winkie]

There's a reason why there isn't a TV series called "Sex in the Village". They're all over 80.

If you're young and active, then city life is the best I think. Maybe when you're hitched with kids, that is the time to call it quits and move to the 'burbs.

Keep moving out as you age. And then back in again when you can't drive any more.

City life is best for the young free and single.......renting for a growing number is their sole option now, no ties, free agents, no stake in the society where they live.

If that is what TPTB want they have got it.......young families moving to other places, one places loss is another places gain.....move to a place where they are more valued.

[Maynardgravy]

These aren't people cashing in though. They can't afford to stay or simply refuse to join the ponzi.

It's pass the parcel between those with London property/BOMADS until the thing goes bang, tulip style.

[longtomsilver]

Are doctor's pay not constrained nationally?

Why work in London, with high house prices, when you can move up North and be on similar money?

My wife was recently offered a job in her London office. Less work, at more that double the salary.

We didn't even consider it. We'd have a better quality of life in Belfast on 100k than in London on 250k.

You could commute into London from say, Tamworth* for £10,000 a year in about an hour. For that kind of money I'd move heaven and Earth to be in the right place at the right time.

Tamworth is cheap as chips as a place to live.

[Eddie_George]

And that is a bonkers situation to be in. I suspect most London financial services jobs involve sitting in front a screen most of the day.

Most of these jobs will be automated in the next ten years. Good times ahead.

[thecrashingisles]

And that is a bonkers situation to be in. I suspect most London financial services jobs involve sitting in front a screen most of the day.

But unless you get them all in a room together it's not possible to create the same feelings of envy and competitiveness in the workforce so productivity would go down significantly.

[Quicken]

But unless you get them all in a room together it's not possible to create the same feelings of envy and competitiveness in the workforce so productivity would go down significantly.

Sure, but it might just as well be a room in, say, India.

[Big Orange]

Well maybe not on Scotland after the next election and possibly not on Wales and the North a decade or so after that date if the UK eventually fractures apart politically as is looking ever more possible now.

I get the impression that London is developing to be its own country within a country, while regionalism is spreading perhaps as a response to globalisation and pressures of mass immigration? Hence why the EU is slowly essentially failing?

[disenfranchised]

You could commute into London from say, Tamworth* for £10,000 a year in about an hour. For that kind of money I'd move heaven and Earth to be in the right place at the right time.

Tamworth is cheap as chips as a place to live.

I take it you've never done a regular long distance London commute?

[2buyornot2buy]

I take it you've never done a regular long distance London commute?

That's it. 3-4 hours a days lost, plus £20,000 a year. No thanks. That's what I'm talking about, I'd rather stay on Belfast on 100k than live in London on twice that.

Total commute at the minute 25 minutes each day.

Edited March 13, 2015 by 2buyornot2buy