According to Mayfair-based estate agent Savills, many families living in high-end London properties are choosing to sell up their homes and move out of the city into the countryside, with huge numbers of people opting to settle in areas such as Kent and Surrey instead.

The last two or three years have seen huge rises in the prices of luxury London properties, although this growth seems to be slowing down in recent months. Because of this, a lot of people are choosing to take full advantage of the properties they own and sell them on while they are at their peak value, often making a big profit on the prices they paid for them just a few years previously. This means there has been a sharp jump in property sales outside the capital as people purchase new homes further afield. Savills has experienced a 20% increase in sales outside London in the first six months of 2014.

Things are not only changing outside of London. In the last few years there has also been a change in the way people are buying homes and investment properties within the capital itself, with a big shift away from traditionally more expensive areas of West London such as Sutton and Hillingdon towards the east and areas like Newham, which was given a new lease of life a couple of years ago with the Olympics and the building of the Olympic Park. As the new Crossrail system is planned to open in 2018, transport links across London will become even faster and easier, opening up new possibilities for people to buy and occupy properties in different areas of the city.