Back in 2009, only 2% of Southerners headed North to buy a home. This year, that proportion has more than doubled to 4.6%.
These moves appear to be predominantly driven by affordability. The average house price in the North of England, which includes East and West Midlands, is £231,580. In the South of England, the average home costs almost double, at £455,850.
This year, first-time buyers have made up a record 32% of all Southerners heading North, up from 18% in 2019 and 11% a decade earlier.
These buyers are paying an average of £219,040 for their first homes, which is 37% – or £80,370 – less than a first-time buyer who stayed put and climbed onto the housing ladder in the South of England.
While their moves are fairly spread out, the most popular destinations for these Southerners are areas in the Midlands, which appear to be chosen for their proximity and plentiful job options. With home working becoming the norm for many workers, more are willing to move further from the office in a bid to get more house for their money.
The top local authorities, both attracting 6% of all Southerners moving to the North, are West Northamptonshire and Birmingham. Other popular Midland locations, each seeing 4% of all Southerners moving there, are Nottingham; Stratford-upon-Avon; Warwick; Coventry; and Ashfield, in Nottinghamshire. Sheffield, in South Yorkshire, also attracts 4% of Southern buyers. In the Northwest of England, Manchester attracts 4% of Southern buyers and Liverpool, 3%.
While house price growth in the North has outpaced growth in the South over the past decade, prices are still far lower in the Northern regions. Over five years, Northern prices are up 20%, against 16% in the South. Since the financial crisis of 2008, however, the biggest price growth has been in the South, with gains of 65%, against 46% in the North.
By contrast, North-to-South migration has been slowing over recent years; again, this appears to be heavily linked to the affordability of housing. The share of Northerners heading South has more than halved since 2009, from 6.2% to 2.3% this year. Essentially, this means Southerners are twice as likely to move North to buy a home than Northerners are to move South.
Also, the motivations behind a North-to-South relocation are quite different from those heading in the opposite direction – the former are likely to be moving later in life, trading in a home where they have managed to build up equity. Indeed, 78% of people moving from North to South this year had a home to sell, with 43% of them paying cash.
Looking at the top destinations for these relocators, traditional coastal retiree hotspots dominate. Cornwall is the standout location, accounting for 16% of all Northern moves to the South, while the Isle of Wight and Bournemouth each attract 4% of movers. North Norfolk and the Cotswolds both attract 3% each.
The three more urban locations in the top 10 for Northern buyers – Milton Keynes (9%), Croydon (3%) and Bristol (2%) – have been popular with first-time purchasers in recent years. Relocating here is likely to be driven by younger buyers moving for employment, or older generations moving closer to family.
The trends among tenants, who are typically younger, more transient and therefore more willing to make bigger moves for jobs, for example, are similar to those for buyers.
There has been a fairly consistent increase in Southern tenants moving North, where rents are lower, with 8.8% of all Southern tenants making this move this year. This is up from 5.2% in 2009 but down from the peaks seen post-Covid in 2021 and 2022, when 9.6% of Southern tenants moved North. Fewer Northern renters head South, with 4.8% making the move in 2024.
Underlying all of this is the affordability issue – reflecting how much easier it is for Southerners to head North, rather than in the opposite direction.
