People leaving cities & moving to the countryside - are you?
Discussion
Should this be in the Lounge, NP&E or Homes? Not sure. Mods can decide.
I'm sure we have all read the numerous news articles over the last couple of months or so proclaiming that "The wealthy are fleeing London and moving to rural and coastal properties" due to the influences that Coronavirus is having on their lives, but until I had a discussion last week with some surveyors I know, I didn't have a picture as to the extent this was happening, or the sort of people who were moving.
The surveyors have businesses in Cumbria/Lake District, the Cotswolds, and also the Yorkshire dales area, and most of their work is Homebuy and mortgage valuation type work. Essentially they are inspecting and valuing properties before someone completes their purchase of it, either outright or via a mortgage provider.
The guys from the Cumbrian place said houses in Cumbria\Lakes are selling incredibly fast, often within a day, and last month they did 51 surveys/valuations and 22 of those properties were being purchased by people who had sold up in London and were moving. (They are just one of many surveying practices in the area)
That struck me as an incredible figure, and they also commented they had never seen anything like it in 30+ years.
The surveyors in the Cotswolds and Yorkshire dales didn't give any figures, but confirmed that they had been dealing with a 'very significant' number of properties which had been purchased by people from London, Birmingham, Manchester etc.
For the most part, the people moving aren't what the newspapers would class as 'the wealthy' but seemingly ordinary people of all ages looking for properties anywhere from £100,000 to £1m.
Are you moving out of a city? If so, where are you moving to?
I'm sure we have all read the numerous news articles over the last couple of months or so proclaiming that "The wealthy are fleeing London and moving to rural and coastal properties" due to the influences that Coronavirus is having on their lives, but until I had a discussion last week with some surveyors I know, I didn't have a picture as to the extent this was happening, or the sort of people who were moving.
The surveyors have businesses in Cumbria/Lake District, the Cotswolds, and also the Yorkshire dales area, and most of their work is Homebuy and mortgage valuation type work. Essentially they are inspecting and valuing properties before someone completes their purchase of it, either outright or via a mortgage provider.
The guys from the Cumbrian place said houses in Cumbria\Lakes are selling incredibly fast, often within a day, and last month they did 51 surveys/valuations and 22 of those properties were being purchased by people who had sold up in London and were moving. (They are just one of many surveying practices in the area)
That struck me as an incredible figure, and they also commented they had never seen anything like it in 30+ years.
The surveyors in the Cotswolds and Yorkshire dales didn't give any figures, but confirmed that they had been dealing with a 'very significant' number of properties which had been purchased by people from London, Birmingham, Manchester etc.
For the most part, the people moving aren't what the newspapers would class as 'the wealthy' but seemingly ordinary people of all ages looking for properties anywhere from £100,000 to £1m.
Are you moving out of a city? If so, where are you moving to?
I already did, more by necessity than design. My ex and I moved from Middlesex to Herts first, then when we split I moved to Cambridgeshire, a small village surrounded mostly by farm land and the A1/A14. Feels like countryside to me anyway.
It's lovely here. Much cheaper, people are nicer, little real traffic, easily commutable to London if needed. Apart from being a little further from mates and my mum than I'd like, and being a bit boring for the teenagers in my life, it's lovely.
It's lovely here. Much cheaper, people are nicer, little real traffic, easily commutable to London if needed. Apart from being a little further from mates and my mum than I'd like, and being a bit boring for the teenagers in my life, it's lovely.
From London's perspective, it'll be a pretty insignificant number of people, but you don't need many to hoover up the limited amount of property for sale in rural areas. Anecdotally properties at the top end of the market around here that normally take a couple of years to shift are in demand and prices are getting jacked up.
I'm a Londoner, and I've seen a degree of this happening. The flipside is that homes here (mostly flats tbh) aren't selling, and sellers are having to discount. Rents are falling too.
I mean, no one has a crystal ball or a DeLorean so it's finger-in-the-air time. But I do wonder if the work-from-home boom will at some point un-boom, at least a bit. It's all very well for people to have/negotiate a WFH arrangement with their current company. But what happens if they lose that job, or want to move on in their career? Job-hunting when you're not physically in an area is much harder. And I do think that once the immediate threat and circumstance of covid are passed, some organisations will start to push employees a bit harder to physically be back in offices again. (Some won't, I grant you.)
So I wonder if there'll be a bit of a rush of it now while people are panicking, but an amount of them -- who knows how many, I wouldn't want to guess -- will move back (or at least nearer again) in two years' time.
I mean, no one has a crystal ball or a DeLorean so it's finger-in-the-air time. But I do wonder if the work-from-home boom will at some point un-boom, at least a bit. It's all very well for people to have/negotiate a WFH arrangement with their current company. But what happens if they lose that job, or want to move on in their career? Job-hunting when you're not physically in an area is much harder. And I do think that once the immediate threat and circumstance of covid are passed, some organisations will start to push employees a bit harder to physically be back in offices again. (Some won't, I grant you.)
So I wonder if there'll be a bit of a rush of it now while people are panicking, but an amount of them -- who knows how many, I wouldn't want to guess -- will move back (or at least nearer again) in two years' time.
I have a house in a market town in the midlands, It's been empty since March. My lodger has gone back to remote working from Romania and I have moved in with my Parents up in Yorkshire as it's a much nicer place to be. Will be selling up as soon as my work confirm remote working in my contract going forwards. I'm 25 and moved there for work, but there's nothing else there for me so moving back to Yorkshire to buy a house if working arrangements allow for remote working.
2 anecdotal ones from me (one as mentioned in another thread)
Younger colleagues in Central London are ditching flats and moving out to Zones 3/4/5 and getting houses for the same money, although this is largely rental
A mate of mine who is a few years older than me and thinking of retirement in next 5-10 years has got an agreement from his work he can do Mon-Tues in the office going forward, selling his place in S London for appx £850k, looking to buy a place for £500-600k in the countryside (as yet undecided where) but wants a bit of land (acre or so) and will bank the remaining for his retirement
Mon-Tues in office will be dealt with by travelling down early Mon, Premier Inn/Travelodge for £40 and home on Tues evening, gives him 5 days at home with the missus including weekends
Younger colleagues in Central London are ditching flats and moving out to Zones 3/4/5 and getting houses for the same money, although this is largely rental
A mate of mine who is a few years older than me and thinking of retirement in next 5-10 years has got an agreement from his work he can do Mon-Tues in the office going forward, selling his place in S London for appx £850k, looking to buy a place for £500-600k in the countryside (as yet undecided where) but wants a bit of land (acre or so) and will bank the remaining for his retirement
Mon-Tues in office will be dealt with by travelling down early Mon, Premier Inn/Travelodge for £40 and home on Tues evening, gives him 5 days at home with the missus including weekends
ATG said:
From London's perspective, it'll be a pretty insignificant number of people, but you don't need many to hoover up the limited amount of property for sale in rural areas. Anecdotally properties at the top end of the market around here that normally take a couple of years to shift are in demand and prices are getting jacked up.
Totally agree that it will be an insignificant number of people for London, and won't make more than a tiny dent in London property, but for small towns in rural areas, the numbers are notable.The property market is red hot here in Cumbria right now, there is definately a Covid factor and most of the buyers approaching me are from the SE.
I surveyed a 6 bed GII listed Georgian farmhouse for a client yesterday which only went on the market 6 weeks ago. The larger properties in particular seem to be selling at or close to the asking price. This one is £750k and I am guessing would be at least double that in the home counties so you can see the attraction
I surveyed a 6 bed GII listed Georgian farmhouse for a client yesterday which only went on the market 6 weeks ago. The larger properties in particular seem to be selling at or close to the asking price. This one is £750k and I am guessing would be at least double that in the home counties so you can see the attraction
We already did. Admittedly not from a city but from a large (ish) town. We're only 6 or so miles away now but it feels like we are in the middle of nowhere. It's so quiet and much more "homely" feeling being in the countryside. Definitely wouldn't want to go back to living anywhere busy. Pretty sure we have the best of both worlds here - quiet enough at home but only 5/10 minutes away from one big town and 15/20 from the nearest city.
Lotobear said:
The property market is red hot here in Cumbria right now, there is definately a Covid factor and most of the buyers approaching me are from the SE.
I surveyed a 6 bed GII listed Georgian farmhouse for a client yesterday which only went on the market 6 weeks ago. The larger properties in particular seem to be selling at or close to the asking price. This one is £750k and I am guessing would be at least double that in the home counties so you can see the attraction
A colleague has moved to Cumbria in the last month from Berkshire. Regular 4 bed detached to 5 bed farmhouse, multiple outbuildings and 14 acres. Think she took a couple of hundred k out of the 'downsize' as well.I surveyed a 6 bed GII listed Georgian farmhouse for a client yesterday which only went on the market 6 weeks ago. The larger properties in particular seem to be selling at or close to the asking price. This one is £750k and I am guessing would be at least double that in the home counties so you can see the attraction
Lotobear said:
The property market is red hot here in Cumbria right now, there is definately a Covid factor and most of the buyers approaching me are from the SE.
I surveyed a 6 bed GII listed Georgian farmhouse for a client yesterday which only went on the market 6 weeks ago. The larger properties in particular seem to be selling at or close to the asking price. This one is £750k and I am guessing would be at least double that in the home counties so you can see the attraction
It isn’t in Sedgwick by any chance is it?I surveyed a 6 bed GII listed Georgian farmhouse for a client yesterday which only went on the market 6 weeks ago. The larger properties in particular seem to be selling at or close to the asking price. This one is £750k and I am guessing would be at least double that in the home counties so you can see the attraction
QuartzDad said:
A colleague has moved to Cumbria in the last month from Berkshire. Regular 4 bed detached to 5 bed farmhouse, multiple outbuildings and 14 acres. Think she took a couple of hundred k out of the 'downsize' as well.
This is what happens - often move to a nicer or bigger house, lose the mortgage and trouser a load of cash in the process, can't blame anyone for doing that!LimaDelta said:
Everything around here is getting snapped up within days/weeks. Never seen anything like it.
Anecdotally, same where I am. Bit of a feeding frenzy at the moment. Can't see it making much difference 'cos a majority of properties are second homes or holiday lets already, so it's just shuffling them around among different absentee owners, but I imagine there will be areas of the country where it further compounds an existing problem.If they actually move here permanently, it would be a good thing and welcome, but the last thing we need is more houses standing empty for 11 months of the year.
Gassing Station | Homes, Gardens and DIY | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff