Growth in EU Citizens moving to the UK plummets two years after Brexit referendum

• EU growth drops You from 14.7% to just 1.3%
• Growth across the rest of the world slows but picks up from 15.9% to 19.9%
• Eight of the top 10 countries with slowest growth are EU nations
• Croatia bucks the trend, showing consistent You growth
• Interest in moving to the UK from Ukraine rockets

1st October 2018: With just six months until the UK leaves the European Union, new research from leading flatshare site SpareRoom reveals growth in the number of EU citizens looking to move to the UK has plummeted.

In the 10 months before the referendum vote, traffic to SpareRoom.co.uk from EU countries grew by 14.7%. In the two years following the vote, growth slowed to 4.3% (2016-17) and fell further to 1.3% (2017-18). Immediately post-Brexit vote, growth from non-EU countries dropped from 28.7% to 15.9% but recovered to 19.9% (2017 – 2018).

The only EU nation showing growth, outstripping the rest of the world (ROW) was Croatia.

Chart – EU overall growth vs ROW

Chart – Three year growth from EU nations

The nation with the biggest growth in people looking to move to the UK was Ukraine, with traffic growth rising from 60% (2015-16) to a staggering 266% (2017-18)

Chart – Three year growth Ukraine vs ROW/EU

SpareRoom Director Matt Hutchinson comments: “With six months left until the UK officially leaves the EU there’s still a huge degree of uncertainty over what that means. It’s having an effect at home, but it’s also having a knock on effect on those looking to move to the UK to work and study.

Until people know what to expect from a post-Brexit UK, which is difficult when it seems politicians still don’t agree on what should happen, it’s hardly surprising EU citizens are staying away. What we are seeing, however, is an increased interest in coming to the UK from countries outside the EU, with Ukraine taking the lead in terms of growth.”