Priced out: number of London leavers rises by two thirds in a decade - but more first-time buyers are staying put

The number of Londoners fleeing the capital in search of more affordable homes has increased by nearly two thirds in 10 years.

London leavers have bought over 30,000 properties elsewhere around the UK in the first half of 2018 alone, a rise of 16 per cent more than during the same period last year and 61 per cent more than in 2008, according to new research by Hamptons International.

While the South East and East remain the most popular regions, their proximity to London enabling buyers to commute to the city, the proportion of Londoners heading north has more than tripled in a decade.

Priced out of the increasingly unaffordable and sought-after commuter towns in the South, 20 per cent of London leavers are moving to the North or the Midlands to buy a bigger house sooner and avoid paying stamp duty on additional moves as they upsize. Stamp duty on a detached home in the North costs £5,358 on average, compared to £14,780 in the South.

The average price of a home in these regions bought by a former Londoner now stands at £424,610, the highest on record and 1.6 times more than a buyer from elsewhere.

London leavers bought more homes than local residents in several local authorities this year: Broxbourne, Slough, Harlow, Thurrock, Brentwood, Dartford and Wokingham, most of which border the capital.

Further afield, Bath and north-east Somerset are proving sought-after, with 42 per cent of homes bought by London leavers.

HELP TO BUY ON THE RISE
Stamp duty relief and the availability of Help to Buy has helped more first-time-buyers stay in London, with the number of those buying their first home outside the capital down by 2 per cent on last year.

Still, nearly a third are leaving London to make their first step onto the housing ladder - double that of five years ago - and four times as many are buying in the North or Midlands than they were in 2010.

This exodus is fuelled by the average starter home in the capital costing almost £420,000.

THE DEPOSIT HURDLE
The average London first-time deposit currently stands at an eye-watering £114,952 - enough to buy outright a smart three-bedroom terrace house in the seaside resort of Scarborough, North Yorkshire; a two-bedroom cottage in a Midlands village; or a smart one or two-bedroom flat in Norfolk or parts of Essex.

Aneisha Beveridge, research analyst at Hamptons International, said: "With affordability stretched, more Londoners are moving out of the capital to find their new home.

"More first-time buyers are staying in the capital to purchase their first home than last year. But raising a deposit remains a hurdle for many, which helps explain why increasing numbers of first-time buyers who leave London are heading north."