Where Did People Move During Covid?

One lesson learned during this pandemic is that, if you have a desk job, you can work and live anywhere in the world.

According to research made by Getamover.co.uk, in 2020 the moving trend changed significantly if compared with 2019. The biggest change, of course, happened during the early month of the pandemic.

However, contrary to what we might think, people moved the most during March and April 2020. The prospect of a “working from home” life, convinced many to escape the big metropolis, moved back closer to family or friends, rethink one need.

While many in London escaped, there is still a high flow of people into the city coming. The house prices in the city became more and more interesting for the people that are looking for life after the pandemic. These trends are seen in moves within the countries but also international moves.

We are talking about students moving back to their home country, young professionals, but also English people finding a new home in a southern country like Spain. We can spot these dynamics virtually everywhere in the UK and even in other countries like the U.S. (see the latest study of the New York Times).

Surprisingly, though, the summer months did not saw an increase in removals compared to 2019. That was the time we almost forgot about the pandemic when the average cases were 500 per day and the deaths below 10.

At the beginning of the first wave, the removals again increased, especially internationally.

What will happen in the next months? Will people come back to populate the metropolitan areas?

For Example, in Scotland, the use of the PCR test in Glasgow Has played a key role in attracting people back into the country from abroad.

Whether this is replicated throughout the rest of the UK remains to be seen.