The number of homeowners leaving London has increased 61% in the last decade, according to a report Monday by Hamptons International.

The London-based estate agency found that in the first half of 2018, Londoners bought 30,280 homes outside the capital, 16% more than the same period last year and 61% more than in the first half of 2008.

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Most Londoners don’t venture too far, choosing to head to South East England. In fact, 38% of residents ditched the capital in favor of the region—home to cities like Brighton, Oxford and Southampton—in the first half of the year, though that was a 3% decline from the same time in 2017, a symptom of tightening affordability, the report said.

The East of England ranked as the next most popular destination, with 30% of London leavers moving to the region, which is home to Norwich, Cambridge and Colchester. One in every six, or 16%, of homes sold in the East of England, is sold to a London leaver.

However, with prices of homes increasing in many areas closest to the capital, areas a little further afield are becoming more affordable and more attractive prospects for former London residents.

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The proportion of Londoners leaving for Northern England or the Midlands has more than tripled since 2008, and in the first half of the year, one in five (21%) moving from London chose one of the regions, up from 6% a decade ago, according to the report.

"More people are making a bigger move and buying a larger home sooner to avoid having to pay stamp duty on additional moves as they trade up. But for many, this means heading further north," said Aneisha Beveridge, research analyst at Hamptons International, in the report.

However, as the availability of Help to Buy schemes—government programs in the U.K. that aim to help new buyers—along with stamp duty relief for first-time buyers, provide financial support, more first-time buyers are staying in the capital to purchase their first home than last year, Ms. Beveridge said in the report.

"But raising a deposit remains a hurdle for many, which helps explain why increasing numbers of first-time buyers who leave London are heading North," she added.