I've recently been looking for a villa in Spain around the Costa Blanca area.
Every property we were shown belonged to Brits who were returning home.

Also, reading some of the threads on here, several posters are now back in the UK.

I'm just wondering what may be the reasons for this

Lack of work? Cost of living no lower in Spain any more? Weak currency exchange?

For us it was never going to be forever, my husband never really settled and after 6 years he wasn't going to.
The prices of food and fuel were rising at an alarming rate.
For some there is the big issue of work, i actually gave up a good job to come back.

It's not all sun, sea and sangria as some think it is.

For some Brits it is a temporary move so they never intended to make it a permanent change of country. Some people only want to experience a different country, a different way of life for a short time. To be honest with you I never expected to like it so much that I would not want to move back. We came over because it was something that my husband had wanted to do for many years. The arrangement was that we would review the situation regularly and that if I really did not like it we would move back but I settled, made friends with people in our town and feel very content and comfortable here.

We are retired so do not have the worry of the work situation. Many Brits have to work to survive here and that is where it becomes more difficult to stay. Some go back due to illness whether this is one of the members of the unit over here or someone in the family back in the UK. For some it is not what they expected, they have to work harder than they thought they would, the hours are long and therefore they cannot gain the enjoyment that they thought they would have. Others may simply have become bored with what they had.

The reasons are so numerous that no-one can give you a definitive answer to your question.

Good luck with your research.

Rosemary

Good post Rosemary.

I wrote this article published in April 2009

Has the Exodus Begun?

Not a very pretty picture you're painting there - Armageddon

I suppose that many of the Brits returning home are not losing out financially as even though Spanish property prices have generally lowered - they will make that up with altered exchange rate. If they bought at say £1 = 1.6 euros & now they are getting £1 = 1.20 euros ( Cant find the euro sign on the keyboard)

The British people I've known who have returned to the UK have done so for a variety of reasons, as Rosemary says. 3 families of working age who couldn't find any work (one of the couples spoke fluent Spanish and their 2 children were born here), 2 relationship break-ups, 2 early retired couples where the wife found she wasn't happy and missed family, friends and work too much, 1 couple because of ill health, and 2 couples of 'duckers and divers' who eventually couldn't manage even living hand to mouth any longer, and went back to the UK to live on benefits!

All the people I know who went back to find work seem to have managed to get jobs pretty quickly, incidentally.

try "Alt Gr" and 4
well thats what it is on this keyboard

surely someone buying at €1.60 has been out here 10 years or more. oh for those heady days now

which is hardly surprising with unemployment in the UK at an average of 1/3 that of Spain

add in the fact that they know the system & speak the language in the UK - it has to be easier

yes I know there are jobs in Spain that don't need Spanish - but not as many as there are in the UK!! The odds of finding one in the UK are exponentially better!!

Hi TLM - I never write articles slagging Spain off or being deliberately negative, the article was what the facts were in 2009 -

Yes you are right now the currency has swung in favour of those who want/need to return to the UK and they can recover pounds even if they sell in Euros for less than they paid.

Which of course is a benefit compared to Dutch, German etc who can't play the currency games.

The friends that I know that have returned have mainly been forced to do so because they can't find work, those that are retired on pensions have just adapted their lifestyle and are happy to stay.

and we are still getting people on this forum and others looking for information about moving here

as one door closes another opens.

The ones who bought after about 2004 will take the biggest hit. Although Agents were still talking up the place that is when the first blip came. A trickle of agents started to close on the coast. I remember in 2008 a Spanish shopkeeper in Coín saying the british were leaving in droves.

Always been a transient place though, like Rosemary says lots of different reasons. Difference is you could sell within months at one time.

Lets face it nowhere certainly in Europe is the same as it was pre 2008. Many will have made plans based on how things were then to have the rug pulled from under their feet. Even with the £ as it is now if you you are on a fixed UK income you have still lost nearly a 1/4 of you income. Although the Germans and Dutch etc can't play the currency game as has been said they can and I'm sure do take advantage of the low euro asking price of properties being sold by Brits. I thought we had planned everything and to some extent had but having struggled and paid everything off actually getting to make the move is proving difficult. Still you are where you are and have to get on with it.

All true, but it still surprised me somewhat given the level of unemployment in the UK. I don't usually buy into the Daily Mail rhetoric but it does make you wonder how many of those 2.5 million people really want a job if people can return from Spain and find work in a matter of weeks - and none of the people I knew could be said to have any particularly in-demand skills.