Londoners cash in their equity and spend £30 billion on homes across the UK

Londoners paid some £30 billion on homes elsewhere in the UK this year - the highest amount since 2007.

A report from Countrywide’s high-end brand Hamptons International says the previous high spent by Londoners outside the capital was £37 billion in 2007.

Londoners purchased 74,350 homes in other parts of the UK in 2018, 3.8 per cent more than in 2017. This year they paid an average of £398,910.

Approaching 80 per cent of Londoners leaving the capital in 2018 moved elsewhere in the southern half of the UK but there were buyers further afield too.

Aneisha Beveridge, head of research at Hamptons International, says: “Historically most people moving out of London have done so because of changing priorities, such as starting a family or generally wanting a slower pace of life.

“But increasingly as affordability in the capital is stretched, more households are looking beyond the confines of London to buy their first home.

“For many this means moving further afield to areas such as the Midlands and North where they can get more for their money.

“Despite a rise in the number of London leavers this year, 2018 is likely to be a peak. A slower housing market in 2019 will likely mean that we see fewer Londoners buying homes outside of the capital than in 2018.”

Using Countrywide group figures, this is the breakdown by region:

- South east England 37%

- East of England 32%

- South west England 9%

- North west England 6%

- East Midlands 6%

- West Midlands 5%

- Yorkshire and the Humber 2%

- Scotland 2%

- North east England 1%

- Wales 1%