The number of Londoners leaving the capital has risen 61 per cent in the past ten years, according to a new report by Hamptons International.

During the six months from the beginning of January to the end of June, 30,280 homeowners in the metropolis sold up and headed for the hills.

The exodus was sixteen per cent higher than during the same period last year but not as many as the 32,360 who packed their belongings into a removal van in the first half of 2016.

Two out of five leavers this year settled in the south east although that figure has fallen three per cent.

The analysts blame the dip on families being less able to afford to live in expensive places like South Bucks.

Prices in some parts of the south east region aren’t that far adrift from values in the capital.

Kraig Butler, associate director of the agency’s Amersham branch has noticed a rise a rise in the number of Londoners adding their names to the applicants register.

In his opinion, the outward migration from the capital is symptomatic of a more general change of strategy among buyers.

He says it has been largely brought about by the increase in stamp duty levied on second homes and buy to let.

He points out: “The market has changed. A few years ago prior to the stamp duty changes, buyers from the capital would look for a place in Bucks and hope to hold on to their London home, rent it out as an investment to put towards their pension. Now they’re putting all their eggs in one basket.”

The local director’s experience matches the findings of the latest investigation into the London market commissioned by the agency’s head office.

Hamptons research analyst Aneisha Beveridge confirms: “More people are making a bigger move by buying further away from the capital.

“They’re buying a bigger house sooner than they might otherwise have done to avoid the stamp duty on subsequent moves when they would have traded up, even though for many this means moving further north.”

Since 2010 the number of homeowners opting to move to the north of England or midlands has tripled.

Average stamp duty for those buying a detached house in the south is £14,780. Average stamp duty for a similar property in a northern county is £5,358.

Despite the cost advantages of moving to parts of the country where property is cheaper, the majority who have quit London in 2018 still live in the south.

According to Hamptons’ survey, across the country as a whole £424,610 was the average price paid by Londoners for a home beyond the Circle Line in the first half of this year.

It was one and a half times above the figure paid by buyers from elsewhere. It set a new record.

Typical spend for the 38 per cent of Londoners who upped-sticks to the south east was £575,010 at a time when the average price for a detached house across the south as a whole was £495,600.

While those on the higher rungs of the property ladder bail out of London to get more house for their money in the provinces, it’s a different story for first time buyers.

Prospects have improved for young Londoners who want to buy a starter home in the capital, although finding enough cash for a deposit can still be a stumbling block.

Beveridge reports: “More first time buyers in London have been able to afford to get a foot on the bottom rung of the property ladder in the first half of this year than last year. Savings from stamp duty relief and availability of Help to Buy has meant more are able to remain in London than before. But raising a deposit remains a hurdle for many which helps explain why increasing numbers of ftbs are heading north.”

*Pictured: Exactly what London buyers “putting all their eggs in one basket” are looking for, says Kraig Butler. For many years this four bedroom house in a third of an acre at Chesham Bois has been a much loved family home. It’s in a cul-de-sac a mile from Amersham station and on the books at Hamptons with a guide price of £1.35m.