A survey of expatriate Britons living in Europe found almost three-quarters (70%) are considering returning to the UK.
One in three said they were worried about losing their job, the survey, conducted for Moneycorp, the foreign exchange provider, by the Vanson Bourne consultancy, also found.
The survey, conducted by telephone from October to November 2009, explored the views of 250 Europe-based UK expatriates as well as another 250 who are currently living in Canada, the US, Australia or New Zealand.
The fall in local property prices was the expats’ second-greatest concern after getting sacked, followed by the weakening of the pound, which has cut deeply into the disposable income of most British expatriates.
“Brits living in Spain are the most worried about losing their job, with four in ten considering a move back,” Moneycorp said.
British expats in Germany, meanwhile, were found to be the closest to actually buying their one-way tickets back to Heathrow. Germany’s relatively large contingent of British military personnel based there, who tend not to stay for long, was believed to be the reason for this.
The pain in Spain
Expat Britons in Spain were the next most likely to be seeking to return home (37%) after those living in Germany. These Spain-based Brits were found to be particularly worried about their future as the country continues to lag behind the rest of the eurozone.
Expats as well as locals have been affected by Spain’s current unemployment rate of 17.9%, according to Moneycorp, since many of the jobs that have disappeared have been in Spain’s devastated property industry – traditionally an important employer of UK émigrés.
Expatriates in Italy (34%) and France (33%) were found to be the next-most likely to be starting to pack their bags.
David Kerns, Moneycorp’s head of private clients, said the findings “highlight the real impact of the downturn for Brits living abroad”.
“As businesses across Europe continue to cut costs, we could see a surge of expats return to the UK,” he added.
“Unemployment in Spain is evident, with many jobs tied to the struggling property sector and new job prospects for younger Brits in the country have all but vanished.”
Kerns urged expatriates considering a return to the UK to “seek guidance from a currency expert” to make the most of the money they take back to the UK.
Other findings:
• One in five British expats globally receives a pension in pounds sterling. More than a quarter of those living in Spain (28%), and more than a third of those in Germany (33%) rely on these pensions as their main source of income.
• A fifth of expatriates living in the US described themselves as “extremely worried” about their current financial situation. Not surprisingly, given that the US is not as accommodating of Britons wishing to live and work there as are Britain’s fellow EU countries, expats here are more likely (35%) to say they relocated here because of their career than those living in other foreign countries.
• Britons living in Australia are the least likely to move back to the UK (2%) – a reflection of how much they have severed ties with their homeland, the survey’s authors suggest. British expats here also have most confidence when it comes to their finances, with the largest proportion (37%) claiming that they have no concerns about the current economic situation.
• Almost half of respondents in Canada reported that family and friends would be the main reason for moving back to the UK, even though the main reason for having left the UK in the first place was their job. Only a relatively small proportion (11%) of expats living in Canada described themselves as likely to consider moving back.
Moneycorp is a trading name of TTT Moneycorp Limited, which has been dealing in foreign exchange since 1979 and last year handled more than £11bn in currency transactions.
