'Escaping the madness': steep rise in Londoners moving to northern England

I wish something like this happened in the so-called "Empty Spain".

Patrick Cox’s patience with London snapped when he was charged £3.50 for a cup of tea. For Amy Everett, it was the overcrowded commutes on trains that broke down so often she regularly worried she might never get home.

The pair are part of a rising tide of Londoners moving out of the capital, revealed in new figures suggesting the popularity of settling in or returning to northern England has more than doubled since 2014. While in 2009 only 1% of people leaving London bought or rented homes in the north, in 2019 that figure reached 13%, data from the Countrywide network of estate and lettings agents shows.

Sheffield, Leeds and Newcastle upon Tyne are experiencing the fastest rises among northern cities in the number of escapees arriving from the capital, according to separate data from the Office for National Statistics, which indicates a possible shift east of the London escape route from the well-worn path to Manchester. Sheffield had a 12% rise in Londoners moving to buy or rent in 2018, followed by Newcastle and Leeds, which both recorded 5% increases.

Dramatically cheaper housing – the ratio between house prices and income is 5.8 in Sheffield and Newcastle but 12.9 in London – is a key factor. But the lure of a slower, less work-focused and healthier lifestyle is also driving decisions to “escape the London madness”, as one leaver put it.

The figures are another sign of Britain’s shifting human geography, which could be accelerated by this week’s green light for the £100bn HS2 high-speed rail line cutting travel times to northern cities and bringing Leeds, for example, just 81 minutes from the capital.

In 2018 London lost population through internal migration, with 340,498 residents leaving for other parts of the UK, while 237,270 people arrived from elsewhere in the UK, ONS figures showed. Most go to to just outside the capital, but the biggest savings on housing costs are in the north. The average house price last year was £475,000 in London, £132,000 in Liverpool, £155,000 in Newcastle and £164,000 in Sheffield.

The figures are another sign of Britain’s shifting human geography, which could be accelerated by this week’s green light for the £100bn HS2 high-speed rail line cutting travel times to northern cities and bringing Leeds, for example, just 81 minutes from the capital.

In 2018 London lost population through internal migration, with 340,498 residents leaving for other parts of the UK, while 237,270 people arrived from elsewhere in the UK, ONS figures showed. Most go to to just outside the capital, but the biggest savings on housing costs are in the north. The average house price last year was £475,000 in London, £132,000 in Liverpool, £155,000 in Newcastle and £164,000 in Sheffield.

Municipal leaders are trying to capitalise on the trend. Sheffield city council has been using the term “north shoring” to try to attract more employers to move out of London, promising considerably cheaper office rents, and the prospect of 20,000 graduates each year from its two universities. Leeds has attracted Channel 4’s new base, where 250 people have started work, and a new hub for HM Revenue and Customs is due to open later this year with 6,000 employees.

In the drive for attention, Newcastle is pushing ahead with plans for a new landmark on the quayside – a giant ferris wheel taller than the London Eye, the “Whey Aye”, and is hoping to attract businesses to the new 24-acre Helix science district focusing on green technology and solutions for the ageing population.

                                                                 The Guardian, 14th Feb 2020