Date published: 01.09.08 - not release date

NORTHERN CITIES TOP UK MOVING POLL, WHILE RECORD NUMBERS MIGRATE DOWN UNDER

Pickfords’ Move Monitor reveals latest moving trends

This August Bank Holiday, the nation is downing tools and turning its back on long weekend lie-ins in favour of moving house!

Today, Pickfords, the UK’s largest moving company, launches the results of its annual Move Monitor which reveals that Thursday 24th August is the busiest moving day of the year, as literally 100's of families choose to move house.

The Move Monitor which tracks around 19,000 home moves each year, pinpoints where the nation is moving to and from. And this year, the monitor reveals that more people are moving to Perth than Preston, Plymouth or even Putney! Pickfords’ research revealed Perth as the most popular international city destination, with more people migrating there than any single UK city.

When it comes to moves in and around the UK, this year Nottingham is the most desired destination. Top of the city hotspots for the 1st time, Nottingham experienced more moves into and within the city than any other, knocking Glasgow to a number two position. Newcastle and Bristol are on the rise, whilst newcomers Bath and Reading came in at number 9 and number 10 respectively.

But overall it’s those Southerners that love nothing more than moving house, 40% of all Pickfords’ moves were within or to the South.

UK’s Top Ten Moving Destinations by city
(2005 position in brackets):

1. Nottingham (2)

2. Glasgow (1)

3. Newcastle Upon Tyne (5)

4. Bristol (4)

5= Edinburgh (3)

5= Cambridge (7)

7. York (6)

8. Southampton (8)

9. Bath (new entry)

10. Reading (new entry)

Top relocation destinations:
(% of total 6,160 moves)

1. Australia – 31%

2. New Zealand – 11%

3. USA – 10.5%

4. Canada – 6%

5. South Africa – 5%

6. Spain – 4.5%

7. France – 3.5%

8. United Arab Emirates – 3.5%

9. Cyprus – 2%

10. Germany – 1.5%

Cityscape

The Move Monitor has revealed the top moving destinations by city:

· Nottingham: Claims the top spot for the 1st time!

· Glasgow & Edinburgh: Scottish cities have experienced a decline in moving activity over the last year, but both cities still make the top five!

· Newcastle Upon Tyne: A property hotspot – this top five city saw the biggest increase in moving activity

· Bath and Reading: New entries – both cities experienced an uplift in moving activity to put them in the top ten, replacing Yorkshire cities Leeds and Sheffield

According to Nigel Lewis, editor of Location, Location, Location magazine “It’s refreshing to see that despite all the newspaper headlines about Nottingham’s crime problems people have been able to see past this and appreciate the city’s attractions – including a fast-regenerating centre and the pleasant, almost rustic suburbs around its university. Its popularity also has a lot to do with house prices, which are significantly lower in Nottingham than in other cities in the region”.

Regional Movers and Shakers

· South East: Most active moving region in the UK experienced a quarter of all UK moves (25%). 61% of all movers stay in the region, while 22% of people moving to a new region chose the South East

· South West: Experienced the largest number of moves into the region from other areas of the UK, with just over 50% of movers arriving from outside the South West

· Scotland: Top of the pops for people staying put. Of those movers within the region, nearly 66% (65%) remained in Scotland

· North West: The only region to experience a significant increase in moving activity over the past year, with 22.5% more moves than 2005. Of all the region’s moves, 59% were into the North West from other parts of the UK

· London: Only accounted for 7.5% of total moving activity. Almost twice as many movers left the capital than moved in from other areas, meaning London suffered the highest net loss of all regions

Pickfords’ spokesperson Lyndsey Daykin isn’t surprised that the August bank holiday is such a popular time to move. “ We see a huge surge in house moves during the month of August. Our customers are keen to make the most of the extra day off work; the good weather and the fact children are still off school, so come Autumn they are settled in a new home.”

International Moving Picture

The Move Monitor has also revealed that more people are moving abroad than ever before. A third (33%) of those surveyed are heading overseas – an increase of 11.5% on last year.

The Move Monitor shows that the most popular place for UK citizens to relocate is Australia with just under a third of overseas home movers heading down under, an increase of 14% from last year. Almost all of the top ten saw in increase in numbers moving there since last year, with Dubai experiencing a massive 31% increase, due to the booming property market.

Pickfords’ spokesperson Lyndsey Daykin says “The monitor revealed that whilst Australia remains the firm relocation favourite, Pickfords relocated people further a field than ever before. This year we moved twice as many people to Bulgaria as last year, and almost as many people to United Arab Emirates as to France, which shows just how the international property market is changing. Organising relocations to 104 countries around the world, from Argentina to Zambia, the Move Monitor reveals that people are prepared to consider all parts of the globe as their home.“

-ends-

For further media information contact:

Helen Mitchem, Sara Bailey or Julie Doyle
Pickfords Press Office: icasPR
Tel: 020 7632 2400
Email: pickfords@icas.co.uk

About Pickfords

Established for more than 300 years, Pickfords is the UK’s leading home moving and storage specialist. Pickfords has 63 Move Centres throughout the UK and moves than 250,000 people every year. Allied Pickfords, part of the Allied network, is the international division of Pickfords and with 800 offices in 43 countries, Pickfords is part of the largest global moving company in the world. Pickfords employs 1,800 people in the UK, and is a wholly owned subsidiary of SIRVA Inc.

About SIRVA, Inc.

SIRVA, Inc. is a leader in providing relocation solutions to a well-established and diverse customer base around the world. The company is the leading global provider that can handle all aspects of relocations end-to-end within its own network, including home purchase and home sale services, household goods moving, mortgage services and insurance. SIRVA conducts more than 365,000 relocations per year, transferring corporate and government employees and moving individual consumers. The company operates in more than 40 countries with approximately 7,000 employees and an extensive network of agents and other service providers. SIRVA’s well-recognized brands include Allied, northAmerican, Global, and SIRVA Relocation in North America; Pickfords, Huet International, Kungsholms, ADAM, Majortrans, Allied Arthur Pierre, Rettenmayer, and Allied Varekamp in Europe; and Allied Pickfords in the Asia Pacific region.

More information about SIRVA can be found on the company’s Web site at www.sirva.com