The British have always had a reputation for travel and exploration; it seems that being bound by the shores of the island nation is no restriction because Brits have an insatiable appetite for adventure.
Therefore it may come as little surprise that British expatriate numbers increase annually…however, what if we were to tell you that a recent study by the Office of National Statistics in the UK shows that the number of British people leaving their country behind has actually shot through the roof in the past ten years? We decided to take a closer look at what’s fuelling this dramatic phenomenon…
In part a positive upward swing in the fortunes of the UK housing market has fuelled the British appetite for buying property overseas – but does it have anything to do with the numbers selling up and shipping out to permanently reside overseas?
Well, around 2.2 million Brits in total own property abroad but over one million have emigrated permanently to live abroad in the past six years alone, and both the numbers of those buying abroad and moving abroad are rapidly ramping up according to various studies by the likes of and the Office of National Statistics.
So it’s fair to say that the fact that more people can release equity to buy abroad or sell their UK home and afford to move abroad lock, stock and barrel has definitely had an effect on the amount of people with the choice of being able to live overseas – long live the healthy British property market. Furthermore, it’s a fact that properties in many parts of the world are now far cheaper than property in the UK and what’s more, because the cost of living in many nations is so much cheaper than living in the UK, more people are able to do the maths and figure that they can live a better lifestyle on less money by moving abroad – and that the sale of their UK property can get them on the housing ladder overseas whilst leaving them with a pot of money to start a new life abroad with too.
In addition to all of these facts there has been extensive and positive media promotion of many nations with emerging property markets that has brought a wealth of opportunity to light for even more Brits. Nations such as Turkey and Bulgaria or even Morocco and Romania have featured in British television programs about starting new lives abroad and as a result all have witnessed a development of British expatriate communities as those who had homes in the UK that were worth more than their job would ever earn them realised that they could potentially have a better, more affordable life if they moved abroad.
All of this is interesting as it points to how the British are affording their new lives overseas – but what about the reasons behind their increasing desire for expatriation and emigration?
Well, we can only speculate – but the findings released by the Office of National Statistics would suggest that a more detailed survey of expatriating British nationals needs to be conducted if the UK is to save itself from a brain and indigenous ethnicity drain. Last year Britain waved goodbye to around 380,000 citizens – that’s more than 1,000 people every single day of the year leaving to find an alternative lifestyle to the one they ‘enjoyed’ in the UK. To us that suggests that the excessively long hours that British people are forced to work to appease their fickle bosses and fulfil their staggering mortgage commitments is putting an emotional drain on the nation and resulting in more and more British citizens resigning from the British way of life…but then who are we to comment? We left ten years ago when things were better than they are today and we’ve never looked back.