Brokers in the capital are losing clients to regional markets as affordability pressures drive residents out of London
London mortgage brokers are confronting a shrinking client base as the capital's population falls for the first time since the 1980s, outside of the pandemic period.
New estimates from the Office for National Statistics show London lost nearly 27,000 residents in mid-2025, with its population falling to 9.1 million from a record high the previous year. The capital was the only region in England to record a population decline, with movement to other parts of the country the primary cause.
For brokers operating in London, the implications are significant. The boroughs posting the steepest losses — Southwark, Lambeth, Camden and Westminster — are among the most active property markets in the country, and represent a substantial share of broker transaction volumes.
Housing costs are driving the outflow. London rents have reached record highs of more than £2,300 per month, around £1,000 above the national average. City-centre apartment prices exceed $20,000 per square metre, compared with approximately $6,700 in Edinburgh and $5,400 in Birmingham. London homeowners also carry the highest outstanding mortgage balances in the country, leaving many borrowers acutely exposed to the elevated rate environment of recent years.
Persistently high levels of remote working — above those seen in most comparable economies — appear to be enabling workers to retain London salaries while relocating to lower-cost markets. This shift has direct consequences for brokers, as clients who leave the capital typically seek mortgage advice in their destination regions rather than maintaining relationships with London-based intermediaries.
A Deutsche Bank Research Institute report ranked London as the world's most expensive city for public transport, seventh globally for city-centre apartment prices per square metre, and eighth for three-bedroom rental costs — metrics that collectively reinforce the affordability case for leaving.
Net migration nationally has also contracted sharply, dropping to 171,000 by the end of 2025 from a peak of 944,000 in the year to March 2023, reducing the pool of new residents that has historically offset London's domestic outflows.
"New York, London, Paris and Hong Kong remain global magnets for talent and capital, but their liveability scores are weighed down by expensive housing, long commutes, pollution or affordability pressures," said Jim Reid and Galina Pozdnyakova, researchers at the Deutsche Bank Research Institute. "The lesson is that the richest cities are not always the easiest places to live."
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