There is an issue in my area where people are being priced out of homes partly because of the influx of London money into the area. With remote working taking off – people can earn London wages anywhere. So people up here getting paid say… £27k are simply not going to be able to compete with someone getting a London wage in their area.
Property owners know this and are taking full advantage of it.
How real do you think this situation is, and what do you think should be done about it?
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My mum and Grandad own a bunch of properties in a student area and manage a load more for other landlords and this has been a problem long before remote working, they’ve mentioned it for decades. If you earn £80k in London you will still struggle to buy a place yourself which you’d want to live in but you can come up north and buy something for reasonably cheap on a buy to let mortgage and have it as a second income source.
Realistically the remote working thing will balance itself out, employers in London who have positions which can be done outside of London will offer those positions nationally for a lower wage. London salaries will solely be for positions which can’t be done remotely long term.
If people can learn “London wages” anywhere then so can the locals. And then the employers will find there is no reason to pay a “London supplement” when the employee doesn’t live in London
There’s currently a lot of debate about this in a once upon a time hippy and lesbian town a few miles away from me. The locals are resentful of not being able to afford to live in their home town.
I’m from the North York Moors in Yorkshire and I know of a fair few people now who have chosen not to sell to Londoners as they don’t want Yuppies living in the area.
Oh it’s real!! Live on the mainline from London to the north. THEY ARE COMING PEOPLE!!! And they want your houses! Overheard one guy in the chippy asking for a saveloy. Old lady fainted and 3 of us took him outside and battered him!
They used to just hide in their houses and watch eastenders but they’re getting braver. Venturing out to pubs and asking for cockles and shandies. It’s about time we took our land back! Who’s with me??
bloody foreigners
There has always been net domestic outward migration as far as I’m aware, at least the last 20 years.
I would wait a few years before buying a house up North. Firstly, the pandemic has allowed many people to work from home, but until there is greater certainty that that will continue, I would hold off. Remember, sometimes jobs end, peoples are made redundant and you might have to move back to London if the type of job you want to do can only be found there. Many of the people I know who worked from home and expected a long term wfh arrangement are now back in the office full time after the employers said they are required in the office. I would hold off for now.
I wouldn’t worry about that, the amount of Londoners that want to move north is likely infinitely small. People moving out of London tend to go to the home counties or the south west. They think everything above the south is a shithole.
It’s been happening for years, Londoners buying up property in the north to rent out to locals