Jamie Girvan and his girlfriend Natalie Walls left London during the UK’s first lockdown last year and bought their first home in Sittingbourne, Kent.
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The UK capital’s population could decline for the first time in more than 30 years in 2021, according to new research, as the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic prompts people to rethink life in big cities.
The prediction was one of several in a UK economic outlook from professional services company PwC released this week.
“Covid-19 has fundamentally changed the way we look at cities,” PwC said in the report.
“City dwellers are now rethinking their living conditions in the face of the pandemic, reassessing the importance of larger homes, green spaces and connections to the local community,” she added.
Jamie Girvan, a 26-year-old financial advisor, decided to leave Silvertown in east London during the UK’s first coronavirus lockdown in April last year to move in with his parents on the south-east coast of England.
“The lock in a small apartment in London with a roommate, the two of us who have jobs in finance … kind of (meant) very busy, stuck inside for long hours without that extra room (which) was really, really rough,” he told CNBC on the phone.
Girvan and his girlfriend Natalie, who had temporarily resided with their family during the initial lockdown, then decided to make their move out of the capital more permanent. They bought their first house in Sittingbourne, Kent, in the summer and moved into their house in December.
Girvan said they had previously planned to shop in London to be closer to work but said “it’s a game changer” to have more outdoor space for walks in lockdown. He said the pandemic had shifted its priorities for a home, especially given the move to remote working is likely to continue in the coming months.
PwC cited an August 2020 poll by the London Assembly government agency in which 4.5% of 450 Londoners it polled – the equivalent of 416,000 city dwellers – said they would definitely move out of the city within the next 12 months.
Before the pandemic, the UK’s National Statistics Office had predicted that London’s population would grow by 56,000 people to 9,095,459 between 2020 and 2021. However, PwC calculated that this forecast growth would be nullified if only 14% of its forecast were fulfilled.
“Just not really for us anymore”
Victoria Garratt, a 29-year-old rental agent, said she and her husband had been talking about moving out of London for the past few years, but the pandemic had accelerated that decision.
“We both love living in London but we’re a little bit over it now,” Garratt told CNBC on the phone.
They left Ladbroke Grove in north-west London late last year after also buying their first house in the small village of Silsoe in Bedfordshire, Central England.
Data from UK estate agents by hair showed that of 4,247 inquiries from potential buyers to the Bedfordshire offices in 2020, one in eight were from London residents.
Garratt said strict public health measures resulted in missed trips to the local pub or invited friends over for dinner. Also, “going to Covent Garden or central London – (it’s) just not really for us anymore.”
Tom Ellis, a 26-year-old editor, told CNBC that he and his girlfriend had just given up on the apartment they are renting in Limehouse, east London.
They also planned to move to the countryside but still had to settle in one place. Ellis said they considered moving abroad while they could still work remotely, but that “Brexit and the nature of the lockdown paid for all of those ideas”.
Ellis said her move to the country might only take three to six months, but was still a brief escape from remote working in a small apartment.
PwC also said in its report that it expects a decline in college graduates moving to London in 2021.
“Primarily because of job opportunities, this pattern of graduate migration in 2021 may be disrupted as it is harder to find jobs,” PwC said, adding that increased work from home could mean living in London can no longer be seen as a necessity to find high quality, high paying jobs. ”
Concerns about Brexit and the UK economy could also fuel migration from London, PwC said.
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