The high cost of living is now the main reason people are leaving Jersey, according to one of the island’s busiest removals firms – with Scotland and the south coast of England emerging as the top destinations.

Ross Le Bail, owner of BookMySpace and Phillips International Removals, told Express around 70% of clients he had helped to leave the island in the past year had cited rising costs as the deciding factor.

“The cost of everything here seems to be the main factor,” he said.

Mr Le Bail, whose company handles around 15 moves a week and is currently booked up for six or seven weeks ahead, said the removals market had rebounded strongly after a difficult period following the pandemic.

Immediately after Covid, he said, the industry endured a two-year downturn as fewer people moved and house prices fell, with some firms going bust.

That was followed by an “incredibly busy” period when “everyone wanted to sell”.

“People are on the move again”

Now, he said, demand has stabilised – but at a far higher level than in recent years.

“It feels like it’s coming back to how it was pre-Covid – it feels like things are really picking up again,” he said.

“People are on the move again now. It’s definitely the busiest year we’ve had in two or three years.”

Mr Le Bail said Scotland – particularly Edinburgh and Glasgow – had become a major draw for departing islanders, alongside towns on England’s south coast.

“I think family is number one. I think when they’ve lived here for so long, the ones that move to the south coast of England want to have that ‘Jersey feel’,” he explained.

“The ones that go to Scotland are either family or they’re able to buy a great big house. And they can have a better quality of life, I guess, with the cost of living and shopping being easier.”

Wales was also proving popular, according to Mr Le Bail, although “not so much the middle of England”.

Moving to Jersey with “tons of money”

He said most people leaving were professional couples rather than families.

“Your average family of mum, dad, two children, not so much,” he noted.

The picture for people moving into Jersey was markedly different, he added.

Mr Le Bail said the main group moving to Jersey was people with “tons of money”, people who have been left a property, and those coming to the island for a job.

Most are in the finance sector, but people “from all walks of life” make the move.

Most incoming residents worked in finance or arrived with relocation packages from employers, though Mr Le Bail said some later struggled to afford island life without continued support.

It’s rare for “your everyday working-class people” to move to Jersey, he said.

He also described a growing number of people leaving Jersey after failing to settle socially, particularly partners who relocate for a spouse’s career.

“It’s a small island, and they say: ‘we’ve tried, but it has small friendship groups’,” he said. “The man is working all the hours under the sun and they don’t see each other.”

It is “common” that these women find it hard to get into a social network, he said.

Mr Le Bail said another noticeable trend was islanders abandoning moves to France and returning to Jersey or the UK.

“People are selling up in France – they don’t ever move down there anymore,” he acknowledged.

“They just come back. I think last year we moved two people. We’ve probably brought ten back.”

France is “a lovely place for a holiday”, but moving abroad is challenging, he added.

Not every move follows a familiar pattern, however, with Mr Le Bail recalling one couple who threw a pin at a map to decide to move to Germany.