First-time buyers fleeing London do so at their own risk

Have high house prices succeeded where decades of government efforts at regional development have failed? That is, have they managed to redistribute economic development around the country? 

According to the estate agent Hamptons, nearly one in three buyers looking to move out of London in the first six months of this year was a first time buyer. It means that the traditional migration – move to London upon graduation, buy a first home in the capital and then possibly move out to the countryside when rearing a family – has been disturbed. 

Buyers are no longer bothering with the London stage of property-ownership, and are moving out of the city in order to buy their first home. They are not just moving to the traditional commuter belt, the estate agent adds, but jumping well beyond it to places such as Leeds.