Erin Lytwyn and her husband, Daniel Walker-Murray, had deliberate to depart London and transfer again to the US after welcoming their daughter, Charlotte, 10 months in the past. “We had been accepted within the US to purchase a home and get a mortgage,” she says.
However when Donald Trump was re-elected in November final yr the couple, who’re 36 and 34, modified their minds and purchased a home in Camden as an alternative.
“Trump began making a number of scary strikes, just like the folks he’s appointed, and it made us take into consideration what was necessary for us,” says Lytwyn, who works in cloud gross sales for Google and has lived in London for simply over two years.
She finds Trump’s insurance policies on deportation and immigration notably objectionable. “Daniel is from Colorado, which has a deeply rooted relationship with Mexico and El Salvador,” she says.
“Trump is saying he’s going to deport hundreds of thousands of individuals on his first day in workplace — it’s exhausting residing in a rustic the place folks have lived for 30 years and may be eliminated.”
Whereas Lytwyn is aware of immigration is a matter within the UK, she says “there’s not the identical degree of racism. It’s a extra balanced and equal tradition”.
Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi moved to the Cotswolds final yr
FilmMagic
The information backs up this shift throughout the Atlantic. Google searches within the US for “shifting overseas” and “how you can to migrate” hit report highs final yr, whereas the UK-based Immigration Recommendation Service reported a 500 per cent surge in US visitors to its web site.
In a current examine of 1,000 US residents, it additionally discovered that 25 per cent had been contemplating relocating overseas, with curiosity notably excessive amongst these residing on the more-liberal east and west coasts.
Forty-seven per cent of Los Angeles residents and 35 per cent of New Yorkers had been contemplating a world transfer. Twenty-nine per cent cited Canada as their most well-liked vacation spot and the UK got here in second place, at 19 per cent.
‘All of the Individuals I do know listed below are grateful’
Lytwyn has a twin sister in Los Angeles. Following Trump’s victory she instantly began wanting into visas, colleges and locations to dwell in London. She has now been evacuated from her house due to the wildfires. “I’ve informed her to simply come right here,” Lytwyn says.
“Daniel additionally has a cousin who went on a visit to New Zealand and began wanting into visas there after Trump bought in. Apparently, the NZ visa web site crashed because the visitors to it was so excessive.”
Past politics, Lytwyn has discovered different advantages to residing in London. “We have now a special lifestyle right here — we’re consistently strolling, and our child has been to 10 totally different nations. We went to Spain at Christmas — it’s simply three hours from our home — and final yr we went to Cyprus.”
She additionally appreciates the healthcare system right here and the way straightforward it’s to get natural meals in contrast with within the US. Being from Connecticut, she says the gray winters don’t hassle her. “All of the Individuals I do know right here really feel grateful we’re right here already; we really feel like we don’t must stand up and transfer,” she says.
Many Individuals are doing simply that although. US visitors to Knight Frank’s UK property web site in November final yr was 5 occasions larger than the identical month the earlier yr. It peaked on November 5, the day of the election, when visitors was 20 per cent larger than on another single day in 2024.
Based on the Workplace for Nationwide Statistics, there are presently about 71,000 Individuals residing in London, out of a complete inhabitants of 8.8 million, and that quantity appears prone to improve.
‘We’ll transfer from the USA to the UK to flee Donald Trump’s America’
Ellie Coverdale is planning a transfer to London this yr
Provided
Ellie Coverdale and her husband Michael dwell in Seattle and are planning a transfer to London within the spring.
“Trump’s presidency solely made me extra cautious of the place the US goes and whether or not it’s my means or not,” says Coverdale, 42. “Political language feels so divided and radical that it’s more and more tough to think about a future there.”
She cites Trump’s place on local weather change and environmental regulation as an element fuelling her choice to maneuver.
“I questioned what the US had in thoughts in the long term, and whether or not the US management mirrored my very own rules of sustainability and duty to the remainder of the world,” she says. “The immigration insurance policies additionally usually felt divisive and exclusionary.”
In addition to London’s historical past, museums, theatres and markets, a part of the town’s attraction is its multi-culturalism. “London seems like a spot the place folks from all walks of life come collectively and create an setting that’s each dynamic and galvanizing,” she says.
Coverdale is an leisure author at UKWritings.com and most of her work is finished remotely, whereas her husband, who’s 46, works in finance, with a specialism in threat administration. “He’s not too long ago discovered a brand new workplace job in London, and it’s made life a lot simpler for us,” she says.
The couple are within the means of organising visas and have been properties in Richmond, Hampstead and Greenwich. “The UK’s extra liberal political local weather is a part of the attraction — it’s extra according to our core beliefs and values, it guarantees the soundness and openness that we’re in search of once we do that transfer.”
Demand from US consumers has accelerated
Amongst these benefiting from a so-called “Donald Sprint” are London’s shopping for brokers. Within the US system, each purchaser and vendor have interaction an agent or dealer. So, not like right here, most Individuals don’t act independently when shopping for a property.
“Demand from US consumers has been constructing steadily in the course of the previous 12 to 24 months however it’s undoubtedly accelerated because the US election,” says Jo Eccles, founding father of prime central London shopping for company, Eccord.
“Individuals now account for 30 per cent of our shoppers, the best it’s ever been. From enquiries in the previous couple of weeks, it’s clear their market share will develop additional in 2025.
“Social and political challenges throughout the US, notably gun crime and the beginning of a second Trump presidency, are encouraging many to speed up their plans to relocate right here completely.”
Whereas Labour’s adjustments to non-dom guidelines have dissuaded many worldwide consumers from settling in London, the US imposes worldwide taxation on all its residents, regardless of the place they dwell.
“Whereas different nationalities are exiting the UK or pondering twice about shopping for right here, American consumers are shifting towards the tide,” provides Eccles.
The falling pound, which is at its lowest degree towards the greenback since 2023, has additionally meant Individuals can get extra for his or her cash once they purchase a property.
Ranjit Thaker, founding father of London shopping for company Thaker Acquisitions, says London has many benefits for these shifting from the US: “Apart from geography taking part in a key position as a gateway to Europe, the widespread language and business-friendly time zone have big attraction to American consumers.”
He’s additionally seeing the impact amongst his shoppers. “Earlier than the election we had one consumer specific that their finances could improve following a Trump win… Given the US leads the billionaire inhabitants index, I might argue that this listing will solely develop beneath Trump’s administration and due to this fact see no signal of abatement from US funding into London in years to return.”
By way of their very own future, Lytwyn and Walker-Murray plan to remain within the UK for the medium time period. “I feel we are going to return to the US sooner or later,” Lytwyn says.
“We have now a five-year visa and ageing mother and father. I keep in mind asking Daniel: ‘What occurs if Trump will get in?’ And he mentioned, ‘We should always transfer again and assist.’ However we didn’t. It hit us that we love our life right here. We’d must sacrifice to dwell in one other Trump administration.”
