Pessimism about the future and a frustration with politics could be driving a surge in Brits looking to make a move to Australia, an expert has said.
Damning data released by realestate.com.au showed a staggering 28 per cent jump in Poms searching for rental properties in Australia in the 12 months to March.
And they’re choosing some of the country’s swankiest suburbs.
The data, collected from searches made via realestate.com.au, found Bondi was the most sought-after suburb, followed by South Yarra and Richmond in Melbourne, then Coogee in Sydney.
Brits wanting to buy have their sights set on Melbourne and surrounding suburbs like Prahran, Armadale and Elwood. South Yarra topped the chart while Richmond placed third.
For Aussie migration agent Mark Welch, who helps Brits navigate Australia’s complex visa system from his office in Edinburgh, the news comes as no surprise.
He said beyond the promise of a better lifestyle, weather, opportunity and pay, Brits are also leaving due to a lacklustre economy and splintering political scene.
Mr Welch said the result from recent local council elections in the UK, which saw Labour all but wiped out by resurgent parties like Reform UK and Plaid Cymru in Wales, “stirs things up”.
“(The election) doesn’t solve anything for anyone. There’s a lack of good alternatives – this is not my view, this is the general view. You vote for one (candidate), but you vote for them through gritted teeth most of the time,” he told news.com.au.
“And Brexit has not been great. The general feeling is that’s not been handled well. (Keir) Starmer coming in two years ago (as Prime Minister) has also not been handled well either. It’s a combination of all these things.
“People are disgruntled, and I think they’re taking things into their own hands and they want to move.”
The Aussie visa expert said he’s noticed a roughly 20 per cent uptick in Brits asking about a move Down Under. He said many are ineligible because they don’t have the skill sets Australian employers want, but there are many that are.
“I had a couple I spoke to a few days ago, and they worked in construction and property, and they live just outside London,” he said.
“They said they know the move to Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane is likely to be expensive, and they know they have to work hard, but they said they’re willing to do it because they want to go somewhere they see as a better place to grow their family and to get more bang for their buck in terms of lifestyle and pay.”
‘Working for bare minimum wage’
Holly Folkard-Smith, 25, who moved from sleepy Essex in England three years ago, said she chose Australia for its job opportunities.
Speaking with her friend Olivia Mills beside her, she said: “We’re just out of university, and we both wanted jobs, but back in the UK it was a really tough job scene at the time and working the bare minimum wage is not great.”
Ms Folkard-Smith found a job in Australia and has fully embraced the lifestyle. She can’t imagine going back to the UK.
“I love it. I feel it really transforms your life and how you live and how much you value having your own time. Living your life beyond work is quite important here,” she said.
“Here, they really value that and I think, especially coming from a place where that’s not a precedent, you’re like ‘yeah’, and you go back and you take that value with you. You don’t really want to give it up, so going back is like ‘no’.”
Ms Mills, who moved six months ago, agrees but says finding a job on a holiday working visa can be tough.
“I work in marketing, and it’s hard to get a corporate job out here. In hospitality, it’s different; it’s a lot easier, but if you want to come here and work in a corporate job, it is a bit more difficult. Apart from that, I love it,” she said.
Bronagh O’Hanrahan, Amy O’Donoghue and Ryan Haughey, all from Ireland, said they moved to Sydney to see what all the hype was about.
“The experience is a really good opportunity. I’m a teacher, and so it’s really nice to come out here and try something different and see what schools are like,” Ms O’Hanrahan, 26, said.
“The weather is a big factor. We’re not getting the great weather at the moment at home, so this is definitely appealing to us,” Mr Haughey, 25, added.
Ms O’Hanrahan, who said Irish winters are particularly “grim”, moved first, convincing her friends to follow. Ms O’Donoghue is happy she’s escaping the winters.
“The lifestyle and the morning here (are) a big thing. At home, the sun might not rise until 8am in the morning, so you can’t really do much before work, whereas here people do a full day of activities and then go off and do their nine-to-five,” she said.
Jamie Kennedy, 29, left his native Ireland to follow his friends.
“We were in London and we were toying with the idea of moving back home to Dublin. As you know, there are so many Irish who come here,” he said.
“You’ve just got to do it to scratch the itch. If it works out, great, you stay; if not, you’ve got a good experience. Obviously, a lot of it is the lifestyle, the weather and the work-life balance.”
‘A great country’
German honeymooners Lennard, 30, and Anna Reisener, 31, said they chose to holiday in Australia because of its diverse nature.
“I heard a lot of good things about it. A lot of people are coming here and just describing, like, you can do all the things you want, like in the US, but minus the kinds of critical political things,” Ms Reisener said.
Asked if they would move Down Under, Mr Reisener said: “Yeah, but we would have to spend a lot of money. We would like to live here but it would be quite an effort to move from Germany”.
For Coogee Bay Hotel manager Lucia Molejon, 30, the move to Sydney from Argentina was a no-brainer.
“I really wanted to see something else and Australia seemed like a great country when you’re all the way overseas. Sydney has everything, like a city but also amazing beaches,” she said.
Realesetate.com.au found the number of people living abroad looking for a rental property in Australia jumped a staggering 12 per cent in the year to March.
Britain tops the ranking for the country with the most searches, followed by the Philippines.
Those seeking to buy have also risen 0.4 per cent year-on-year in March 2026.
When rental and property purchase searches are combined, the UK accounts for 21 per cent of this increase, followed by India at 16 per cent and the Philippines at 10 per cent.
Turmoil in the Middle East triggered a 16 per cent rise year-on-year for rental searches from the United Arab Emirates and an eight per cent lift in searches to buy property.
For international property seekers looking to either rent or buy in Australia, Melbourne’s inner-city and southeast suburbs, as well as Sydney’s CBD and eastern suburbs, were most popular.
Meanwhile, New Zealand and China saw buyer searches fall, down 7 per cent and 9 per cent year-on-year, respectively.
“Australia is often highly sought after for its enviable way of life. This is consistent with the growing popularity of Australian housing that we’ve seen in recent years, particularly among those from the UK, India, China and the Philippines,” REA Group economic analyst Luc Redman said.
“Many of these migrant hotspots are considered desirable locations for locals too, with international property seekers and renters evidently focusing their search on Australia’s affluent areas, those close to CBDs, and ones with lifestyle amenities, such as our iconic beaches.”
