More people are now moving to Manchester from London, reversing the historical “brain drain” to the capital, new research from the UK’s leading moving comparison website reallymoving.com has revealed.
The 2015 Manchester Moving Trends Report shows that the proportion of people moving away from London who are moving to Manchester has doubled over the last year with almost 10% coming from London, compared to just 5% in 2014.
In the reverse, relocations from Manchester to London have stayed at 3-4% of all moves for the past two years.
Rising house prices in the capital and the continued development of the “northern powerhouse” attracting professional employees are thought to be key factors behind the turning tide.
Reallymoving.com’s own data shows that the average buying price in Manchester is £150,000 while in London it’s now three time that at £449,000, which is up 11% on 2014 year on year.
The website’s figures also show that average prices in the North West as a whole stand at £166,000 up 3% on 2014.
Historically, London prices were on average twice the North West price but recently this difference has widened to 2.7.
For those moving from Manchester, 42% opted to move just down the road, staying in the local postcode area, and for those moving to other northern locations, Stockport saw the greatest number heading its way at 9.2% of movers, followed by Warrington at 4.3%.
Both Stockport and Warrington were also the most popular towns for movers to Manchester at 5.4% and 3% respectively.
Liverpool had the third biggest number of movers to Manchester at 2.5% with Bolton, 2.3% and Oldham 1.7%.
Rob Houghton, director for reallymoving.com, says: “Our report shows that Manchester is becoming an increasingly viable option for Londoners looking for more affordable housing without compromising on what a city has to offer. As house prices continue to increase in the South East, this will only be good news for the ‘northern powerhouse’ although a rise in demand for property in keys areas has already seen house prices rise there, albeit at a slower rate than London.
He added:
“It’s clear from this report that shopping, sport and the nightlife are key factors when it comes to what people love about Manchester and with more investment heading its way, these amenities are only going to improve and thus attract more people.”
