We have been inundated. Well, that is perhaps an exaggeration, but there has been a very noticeable acceleration in the number of new young and youngish families buying property in our village since the pandemic began; and it has continued apace. Was this purely a pandemic phenomenon and being repeated in other parts of the UK, this sudden increased exodus from city and town to country, or was it already brewing and the pandemic simply the last straw for those desperate to leave an increasingly frustrating and frenetic urban lifestyle?
As a country village (population circa 1,600) – though perhaps a little different from other rural villages in being less than an hour’s commute from London – we are not of course talking in the hundreds. Yet the size of the village has grown at a rate not seen since the early eighties. Why is this?
The overall demand for housing is of course one factor, proximity to London another: but conversations with the ‘newbies’ from, largely, London revealed a number of factors that have come much more to the fore in people’s thinking and attitudes with regard to quality of work and family life: they now consider it best and actually possible and within their budgets to live in the country. Of course, I am talking almost entirely here about the property-owning, professional, upper middle class or upwardly mobile two-parent families. I must confess to not knowing the official figures, but the pattern is reported in villages nearby.
So, what are the factors and reasons inspiring this exodus, which, as the pandemic continues and the numbers of ‘escapees’ increases, must play a significant part in determining the right makeup and balance of one’s property portfolio?
This influx has put some strains on a previously largely elderly village of retired success stories… but it has also revitalised village life
Right from the beginning, the two principal factors informing and reimagining parents’ thinking were, first, the realisation that the London property boom meant their two-bed flat in Maida Vale or Earls Court could now be exchanged for, at the very least, a four-bedroom house with large garden and ‘amazing’ local amenities including NHS GPs and dentists, tennis and cricket clubs, clean air, the list goes on; and, secondly, ‘real community’ in which you actually know and socialise with your neighbours.
In addition to these, other reasons followed swiftly on: easy access to either excellent local state schools, often within walking distance of home, or a good choice of private prep schools – now much more affordable because of the next benefit, the cost saving of the commute. There was also the saving of time from not commuting – and the ability, subsequently stipulation, to work from home was also often offered, after actual experience of it, as another ‘revelation’ about getting the work-life balance right and the hugely positive effect this had had on physical and mental health and well-being, not to mention intra-family relationships.
None of these reasons are entirely new, you may say: but what is new and only really of these last 12 months is the evidence not only of an increase in successful moves way beyond the level of previous years but also of the soaring number of enquiries from London-based owners with local estate agents, other online sources, and even the vicar’s phone!
Does this sudden trend augur London and other cities becoming ghost villages where fewer and fewer either live or even work?
This influx has put some strains on a previously largely elderly village of retired success stories from the abundant personal wealth-producing eighties and nineties, but it has also revitalised village life in a way that guarantees its continuance, albeit in a slightly less rural pursuits and more ‘townie’ pastimes way. It also, however, raises a question: does this sudden trend augur London and other cities and towns becoming ghost villages where fewer and fewer either live or even work?
A fall in London residential property prices would probably slow all this down as country prices rise. And is village life only a very British aspiration or will the influx of foreigners working in London decide to seek the same? The huge numbers of sites currently being offered for housing and the eagerness of local councils to give planning permission suggests that this phenomenon will only accelerate, at least for the time being.
One thing is for sure, though: I have not yet (I realise it is still early days) met one, not one, person – male or female, adult or child (though perhaps teenagers might be the exception) – who regrets the decision to move out of London for the country idyll for which previously their parents had had to work so hard and wait so long before they could realise their dream.
