Londoners buying lowest share of property outside capital since 2013
Londoners are buying the lowest share of houses outside the capital in more than a decade as their moving plans are curtailed by a stalling local market and the shift back to office working.They were behind just 5.3% of house purchases elsewhere in the country in the first seven months of this year, the lowest proportion since 2013, research has found.The number of transactions – 31,620 up to the end of July – is about half the 63,600 in the same period in 2021 at the height of the Covid pandemic-driven “race for space”, according to an analysis of data from Countrywide estate agents.“The return to the office has played a role in curbing the appetite for long-distance moves, but it’s the lack of price growth in the capital that’s really clipped the wings of would-be leavers,” said Aneisha Beveridge, the head of research at the real estate company Hamptons, which carried out the analysis.
“Many London homeowners simply haven’t built up enough equity to make the leap to where they want to go, especially as prices outside the capital have continued to climb.”She said Londoners’ tightened budgets were evident in their top choice of location – Dartford in Kent, followed by places such as Epping Forest, just north-east of London, and Thurrock in Essex – compared with Broxbourne in Hertfordshire and Sevenoaks in Kent in 2015.“We’re seeing a clear shift in where Londoners are heading.The pandemic pushed buyers into leafier, more lifestyle-driven locations, but today’s movers are more pragmatic,” Beveridge said.As growth in prices in the capital has slowed, or even gone into reverse in some areas, someone leaving inner London can afford a 32% smaller home than in 2016, Hamptons found, losing them on average the equivalent of 553 sq feet or two double bedrooms.
Prices have risen 26% outside the capital over the last five years, triple the 8% pace recorded in London,Separate data published on Monday by the estate agents Knight Frank showed that average house prices in prime central London – which stretches from Chelsea to Camden and Notting Hill to Westminster – fell 3,2% in the year to August,Prices in prime outer London – defined as Barnes, Battersea, Canary Wharf, Chiswick, Clapham, Fulham, Hampstead, Richmond, Riverside, Wandsworth, Clapham, Wapping and Wimbledon – were up 0,5% on average but the number of transactions across London as a whole was down 6%.
Sign up to Business TodayGet set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morningafter newsletter promotionThe data from Hamptons and Knight Frank is the latest evidence that the pandemic-driven flight from London has gone into reverse, with homes by the sea seemingly losing some of their appeal and fewer people looking to escape from cities.The property website Rightmove said in April that London was once again the most searched-for location on the website, and the majority (58%) of people living there were looking to stay rather than leave.Homes near the sea are now taking longer to sell compared with the period immediately after the start of the pandemic.In coastal areas, the time it takes to find a buyer has gone up from an average of 52 days to 73 days.
Ex-WhatsApp cybersecurity head says Meta endangered billions of users in new suit
A former top cybersecurity executive at WhatsApp filed a lawsuit on Monday alleging that parent company Meta disregarded internal flaws in the app’s digital defenses and exposed billions of its users. He says the company systematically violated cybersecurity regulations and retaliated against him for reporting the failures.Attaullah Baig, who served as head of security for WhatsApp from 2021 to 2025, claims that approximately 1,500 engineers had unrestricted access to user data without proper oversight, potentially violating a US government order that imposed a $5bn penalty on the company in 2020.He also claimed the company failed to remedy the hacking and takeover of more than 100,000 accounts each day, ignoring his pleas and proposed fixes and choosing instead to prioritize user growth. The lawsuit, filed in US federal court in San Francisco, alleges Facebook-owner Meta failed to implement basic cybersecurity measures, including adequate data handling and breach detection capabilities
Impact of chatbots on mental health is warning over future of AI, expert says
The unforeseen impact of chatbots on mental health should be viewed as a warning over the existential threat posed by super-intelligent artificial intelligence systems, according to a prominent voice in AI safety.Nate Soares, a co-author of a new book on highly advanced AI titled If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies, said the example of Adam Raine, a US teenager who killed himself after months of conversations with the ChatGPT chatbot, underlined fundamental problems with controlling the technology.“These AIs, when they’re engaging with teenagers in this way that drives them to suicide – that is not a behaviour the creators wanted. That is not a behaviour the creators intended,” he said.He added: “Adam Raine’s case illustrates the seed of a problem that would grow catastrophic if these AIs grow smarter
Tesla offers Elon Musk a trillion-dollar pay package
Elon Musk could become the world’s first trillionaire if he hits targets set by Tesla, under a scheme disclosed by the electric car company he runs and in which he is the largest shareholder.Tesla outlined the terms of the incentive package, unprecedented in corporate history, in a section of its latest stock market update that began: “Yes, you read that correctly.”Musk, the company said, will have to increase the value of Tesla from just over $1tn now to $8.5tn over 10 years.If he presides over growth on that scale, the 54-year-old will receive new shares that would push his stake in the company from nearly 16% to well beyond 25%, increasing the fortunes of the world’s richest man to more than $2tn
Trump hosts US tech leaders at White House dinner – minus Elon Musk
As Donald Trump hosted leaders from the biggest US tech companies at a lavish White House state dining room dinner on Thursday night, there was one notable absence. Elon Musk, once inseparable from Trump and a constant, contentious presence in the White House, was not in attendance.The dinner, which included Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Microsoft’s Bill Gates, Apple’s Tim Cook and OpenAI’s Sam Altman, was exactly the type of event where Musk would have sat at Trump’s right hand only a few months ago. Instead, the Tesla CEO stated on his social media platform X that he had been invited but could not make it. He said he planned to send a representative and spent the day on X posting a familiar stream of attacks on immigration and trans people
Head of UK’s beleaguered Alan Turing Institute resigns
The chief executive of the UK’s leading artificial intelligence institute is stepping down after a staff revolt and government calls for a strategic overhaul.Jean Innes has led the Alan Turing Institute since 2023, but her position has come under pressure amid widespread discontent within the organisation and a demand from its biggest funder, the UK government, for a change in direction.ATI said the search was already under way for a replacement for Innes, who held senior roles in the civil service and technology industry before her appointment.Government sources pointed to a letter sent by the technology secretary, Peter Kyle, to ATI’s chair in July that demanded strategic change and indicated a need for new leadership.In the letter, Kyle said the institute should switch its focus to defence and national security and urged “careful consideration” on having an appropriate executive team in place for such a move
Quantum computing firm reaches $10bn valuation as investor interest builds
A British quantum computing entrepreneur has doubled the value of his stake in the business he founded to $2bn (£1.5bn), after the company achieved a $10bn valuation in its latest fundraising.Ilyas Khan, 63, is the founder of Quantinuum, a UK-US firm that announced on Thursday it had raised $600m as investor interest builds in the cutting-edge technology.Khan set up Quantinuum’s predecessor company, Cambridge Quantum, in 2014 before it merged with the US-based Honeywell Quantum Solutions in 2021.Khan, a former owner of his home town’s football club Accrington Stanley, is now chief product officer at the business and to date has not sold any shares since founding it more than a decade ago
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