Londoners driven out as home prices remain out of reach

London

LONDONERS are buying more homes outside the UK capital as prices remain too high, even after the end of a decade-long housing boom.

In the first half, Londoners bought more than 30,000 homes outside the city, a 16 per cent rise from a year ago and 61 per cent more than in the same period a decade earlier, according to research by Hamptons International.

Nearly 40 per cent of leavers relocated to the south east of England, followed by 30 per cent who moved to the east of the country.

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

"More people are making a bigger move and buying a larger home sooner to avoid having to pay stamp duty on additional moves as they trade up."

Despite a recent cooling in the market, home prices in the capital have still almost doubled in the past decade after demand outstripped supply and low interest rates fuelled purchases.

The surge in home values, which now cost the average Londoner a record 14.5 times their annual salary, mean that many city dwellers can no longer afford to buy.

Stamp duty on a home worth £483,800 (S$850,440), the London average, is £9,190 for first-time buyers and £14,190 for those who have previously owned a property, according to the UK government's website. BLOOMBERG