75% more thinking of move to Britain

By Niamh Hennessy

Thursday, December 10, 2009

THE numbers of people interested in moving from Ireland to Britain has jumped by 75% over the last year.

Figures released by reallymoving.com also found that the number of people looking to move from Britain to Ireland has increased almost 34%.

Overall, the number of people looking to move back to Britain from European countries has increased 37% over the last year, while the number of people moving out of the country has dropped by 18%.

The weak pound was cited as one of the main reasons for people wanting to move to Britain as the cost of living in the eurozone has soared.

Director of reallymoving.com Rosemary Rogers said: "Many expats have had their dreams shattered by the current economic crisis and are finally realising that they can no longer afford to live in Europe with the weak pound.

"For those who kept their options open by retaining a property in the UK, the situation is not so desperate but for many who sold up completely and are now unable to sell their European home, their only option is to rent back in the UK."

The figures show, by far, there has been most interest in moving from Ireland with Spain in second spot with a 39% increase.

It said Spain has suffered from a "devastating property crash" which has left many property owners with depleted equity and high living costs due to British pensions being paid in pounds not euro.

This story appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Thursday, December 10, 2009