During the first six months of this year, Londoners bought 61,830 homes outside the capital.

It’s the highest number since 2006 when estate agents at Hamptons started to keep count of the exodus.

The tally up until now is only 10,030 short of the total number of homes sold in London during the whole of last year (71,860).

Forty one per cent of those who upped sticks moved to the south east.

“Pandemic-fuelled city outmigration shows no signs of slowing,” comments Aneisha Beveridge, head of research at Hamptons.

“Despite lockdowns easing and offices and restaurants reopening, Londoners have continued to re-evaluate where they want to live, with many bringing future-planned moves forward.

“While London now attracts more buyers from outside the capital than pre-pandemic, the numbers are still low relative to those leaving, meaning London’s population is likely to fall this year.”

The capital’s loss will result in the Home Counties’ gain, although the mix of those moving away from London has already changed, says the research chief.

She states: “First time buyers are more likely to leave London than ever before.

“While second home buyers and investors have been spurred on by the stamp duty holiday, much of the uplift in Londoners looking outside the M25 has come from those buying their first home.

“If current trends continue, we calculate that by the end of this year, Londoners will have purchased 108,000 homes outside the capital.

“This will mark the first time that this figure has surpassed the 100k mark since 2007, a year when nearly 1.7 million homes were sold across Great Britain.

“But given that many Londoners have brought forward moves and overall activity is predicted to slow, we expect the number to fall back over the next few years.

“Even so it’s still likely to sit about the average of 72,000 we saw in the three years leading up to the pandemic.”

To save time for potential buyers tempted by the lifestyle in the Chilterns, the BFP looked up average house prices in five towns in Bucks published by the online estate agency home.co.uk on Tuesday this week, as well as average prices for the county.

Here are the results:

  • High Wycombe - Number of homes for sale: 414; average asking price: £331,997
  • Marlow - Number of homes for sale: 120; average asking price: £729,397
  • Beaconsfield - Number of homes for sale: 188; Average asking price: £1,378,528
  • Amersham - Number of homes for sale:100; average asking price: £580,905
  • Prices Risborough: Number of homes for sale: 53; average asking price: £495,680
  • Buckinghamshire stats: Number of homes for sale: 4,792; average asking price: £331,997

Pictured is the house in Moss Lane, Pinner, originally owned by Sir Ambrose Heal, founder of Heal’s, the world famous furniture store in London’s Tottenham Court Road.

His one-time home is currently on the market at Savills in Northwood for £2,850,000.

It was designed for him in Arts & Crafts style in 1901 by his cousin, the architect Cecil Brewer. He lived there until 1917. Subsequently he and his family moved to Beaconsfield.

The department store owner turned out to be a trail blazer for a growing number of townies opting for a healthier lifestyle 100 years ago.

He named his house The Fives Court as a reference to the game he’d played at school and the court he’d had built in the garden.

After being extended by subsequent owners, it now has seven bedrooms, two bathrooms and three reception rooms.

The court where he once played fives has made way for a conservatory which overlooks the garden of almost half an acre.

The memory of the original owner’s residency is preserved on a blue plaque near the front door.

Sir Ambrose died in Beaconsfield in 1959 at the age of 77.