British Expats returning to UK in droves.....

macaque_2

StiflersMom wrote: »

Well spotted Hamish.

People voting with their feet, and returning to the UK is a tangible sign of confidence in the UK.

And all these lovely people will need somewhere to live when they get home. I wonder what impact that will have on house prices??

As we see in this thread, the further house prices stray from reality the more illogical and blinkered has to be the rationale for sustained high prices.

A rising population only benefits house prices if it is accompanied by prosperity. A million people flooding back into Britain in distressed circumstances does no more benefit for house prices than importing a million traffic cones. In fact it is worse. There will be squalor, rising taxes and more competition for a dwindling number of jobs. The government will also be forced to cut rent subsidies.

lemonjelly

Question.

If the UK is as up the creek without a paddle as I keep hearing, (& most likely, as these returnees keep hearing), then why are they choosing to return to the UK?

I appreciate that the major issue here is the exchange rate, however they can't view the UK as being phuqed if they're making an active chioce to return here, essentially for financial benefits.

baby_boomer

At least they'll use their taxpayer funded £400 tax free Pensioner heating allowance on what it was intended for, when they return to the freezing UK, rather than spending it on Riojha and paella

Bad news for the environment .

StevieJ

lemonjelly wrote: »

Question.

If the UK is as up the creek without a paddle as I keep hearing, (& most likely, as these returnees keep hearing), then why are they choosing to return to the UK?

I appreciate that the major issue here is the exchange rate, however they can't view the UK as being phuqed if they're making an active chioce to return here, essentially for financial benefits.

Perhaps they simply can't afford to live in the other place.

lostinrates

StevieJ wrote: »

Perhaps they simply can't afford to live in the other place.

Or the other place is even more up the creek?

I don't think we're ''sunk'' here. I do think that for some the advantageous (financial and other wise) of leaving are significant...after all, we've done the comparisons for ourselves.

who knows staying, if it all goes pop, might give us an opportunity to be part of the new order...:D

Pobby

Spain attracted a lot of retired people. Up to recently you could live much more cheaply. The weather is better and imho, a far safer place to live.

I hear of problems with free health care however I know retired people who will praise the treatment they received in Spain.

My retired friends describe it this way. A week pound makes UK income reduced. Rising internal prices, groceries were mentioned. A falling property market. My friends are about a 45 minute drive inland from Alicante. They are saying that there are drops of up to 50% which does seem a lot. People would like to sell up but can`t.

chucky

lostinrates wrote: »

Or the other place is even more up the creek?

I don't think we're ''sunk'' here. I do think that for some the advantageous (financial and other wise) of leaving are significant...after all, we've done the comparisons for ourselves.

who knows staying, if it all goes pop, might give us an opportunity to be part of the new order...:D

it's very surprising that all of those that froth about the UK being so bad and in such a mess are still planning to stay in the UK and can't find somewhere better to go to :j

lostinrates

chucky wrote: »

it's very surprising that all of those that froth about the UK being so bad and in such a mess are still planning to stay in the UK and can't find somewhere better to go to :j

Who says they can't? Perhaps they can but don't want to go, for all the arguments raised for staying by others? Perhaps they aren't eligable to go...perhaps some are still planning to. I was immensely surprised with the friend who announced this week he is off (with British partner) because he's always been very ...British!

We had opportunities in more than one other country this month, and while UK was always our preferred option, we thought about them all very seriously, weighing up the pros, cons and emotions of various options. Is it weird that weather came out a big pro for UK?

Having made the commitment now to remain I think the onus is on us to contribute as much as possible to the country, and that includes continuing to air reservations where they exist.

chucky

because they're still here and have no plans to go anywhere else

that post wasn't directed at you btw

Pobby

We were looking to live our retirement in Spain. I did a lot of careful research and planning. It certainly looked doable. The euro had floated around 1.4 to the pound for ages and the one thing I didn`t factor in was the pounds collapse.