Three out of five people who moved to the countryside during lockdown have plans to move back to a city, according to First Mortgage. This is up from just one in five a year ago.

The mortgage broker found that 72% of those that left cities have plans to return.

The most common reasons people want to make the move back to city living include missing family, wanting to be closer to amenities such as shops and sports venues, and a need for a shorter commute.

More than four fifths (82%) said if their work was to call employees back to the office, they would have to consider a move back to the city.

Rural regrets

Of those who moved from the city to the countryside during 2020, 85% said they regretted their move. A third said they missed the food scene, 33% said the public transport of a big city was a factor in wanting to move back and a quarter said they missed the fast pace of life.

David McGrail, compliance director at First Mortgage, predicts that even more might choose to move into the cities as companies start to call their employees back to the office more.

He said: “Our research showed that a big part of moving to the country was to have more nature around them, less pollution and less crowds. But unfortunately for many this would’ve meant moving quite far away from the big cities where a lot of offices and businesses are based. And now we’re seeing more companies asking people to return to the office, for many the prospect of a long commute is just too much.

“I think we’ll see many people looking to move back to cities, perhaps even more than the 72% who have so far said they have plans to do so. What this means for their aspirations to buy remains to be seen, but for many this could be a challenge due to the often-higher rent in our big cities.”