The 2011 Migration Monitor report from reallymoving.com shows the most popular and least popular postcodes to move to last year. Find out whether people are moving to or from your area.

Following a detailed analysis of over 60,000 home movers in the UK throughout 2011, reallymoving.com has released its annual Migration Monitor. The study highlights postcode regions that retain their residents, as well as those that lose people to other areas of the country.

The trend throughout the last 12 months shows that people are choosing to move away from London and the South East in favour of the South West, especially the British Riviera town of Torquay. 

Rosemary Rogers, director of reallymoving.com, said: “Our research shows that during 2011 the South West claimed the highest percentage of movers into the region. Torquay, Truro and Exeter all appear in the top five results. Cities that retain their residents make a healthy mix across the UK: Sheffield, Belfast, Chester and Newcastle all lead the way for residents staying within their postcode regions, which is a great reflection on the success of those cities.”

Residents in the Oxford area are the biggest movers according to the report, with 69% more moves per head of population than the national average. Commuter towns such as Reading and St. Albans also rank highly in terms of population mobility.

The survey also shows areas where residents were happier to sit tight in their current properties. Belfast and Kilmarnock held onto the top spots as the least active moving markets last year in the UK by a significant margin.

The implications for removals firms are, according to Rosemary, as follows:

• Firms across England should consider buddying up with other companies in the South West or finding a cheap B&B if they need overnight accommodation.  There’s a huge influx from the rest of the UK into the South West, in particular Torquay, Truro and Exeter. We suspect it’d be tricky to do a return trip to this area within one working day.

• The most profitable postcode areas to be a removals firm are likely to be Sheffield, Chester and Newcastle.  This is because distances are the shortest.  The residents within these areas tend to stay within the same postcode zone rather than travelling further afield.

• Those removals firms working the London area are likely to have jobs moving homes from inner London to outside of the M25.  Combined with delays in the major arteries leading out of the capital, this might make it more difficult to return a decent profit and stay competitive.

• The area in which the population generally moves the most – whether it’s within their existing postcode or to other regions - is Oxford.  This would be a good area to start up a removals firm. Kilmarnock in East Ayrshire is the least active moving market in the UK so not such a good place to start.

The annual 2011 Migration Monitor report is available on the www.reallymoving.com website. It is also downloadable and printable in PDF format.

Top ten towns people moved to in 2011