One of the ongoing narratives we heard over the course of the pandemic was how remote working was leading people to give up city life in favour of bigger, cheaper and more rural living.
Something we heard less about, though, was the impact on people living in those regions where property increased in popularity over lockdown.
“Even when Wales was closed and we were staying home, it was still being flooded with tourists who didn’t respect the rules,” she says.
“I’ve got a friend who grew up there, and there’s no way he could afford to live there now,” she says.
In Gwynedd, the median gross weekly income was £479 in 2020, which is approximately a pre-tax salary of just under £25,000 – definitely not enough to buy a seven-figure home.
Tamsyn Kelly, 30, a comedian, grew up on a council estate in Penzance, and left when she was 18 to go to drama school in London, where she still lives.
“My plan was to make money in the city and go home and live in Cornwall eventually,” she explains.
When looking only at flats – a more common purchase for first-time buyers – they had also increased, with a 4% rise since 2019.
The median weekly pay in the south west of England in 2020 was £558, dropping to £499 for people aged 22-29.
Of course, not everyone will want to, or be able to, think about buying, but the picture for renters is just as bleak.
“It doesn’t make any sense for my brother to try and get rental accommodation,” says Tamsyn.
Not everyone leaving London was looking to rent or buy somewhere else – one study, by business consultancy firm Future Strategy Club suggested that 20% of 18-34 year olds moved from London back to their family home over lockdown.
Sam Fawcett, 28, lives in Wellington in Somerset, a small town without a train station.
“Three new average sized housing estates have gone up in the last five years and another large one is just starting construction,” he says.
Sam, who currently rents with his girlfriend, says the pair were surprised at how popular the area seemed to be last year.
“There were periods over the last year where there were no properties at all to rent in the town or even a few miles into the surrounding area.
Anya Martin, from Priced Out – an organisation campaigning for cheaper housing – says that she’s been hearing about incomers from cities driving regional prices up a lot anecdotally.
“It’s a natural eventuality that if people move out of London and cities, they’ll move to other regions.
So what does this mean for the next generation’s ability to afford a home of their own, post-pandemic, either by renting or buying? Anya’s assessment is stark: “Wealthier people moving to towns is bad news for renters and young people,” she says.
Most people will say yes – but when you tell someone they’re building 30 homes down the road from them, they say no.