Dear readers — when The Times reported that Birmingham’s ‘B’ postcode was the most popular place to move to in the country last year, we'll admit it was a surprise. Our city gets a bad rap — we’ve written about that before here — and we’re more used to defending ourselves than receiving praise.
But yet, somewhere between rising London rents, corporate relocations, capital city burnout, and HS2, people have started showing up — and it seems like they’re here to stay.
Madeleine has spoken to an array of new Brummies: there’s a couple of former Londoners, one from abroad, and one who has recently returned after being away for a decade. While rents are rising in the city, so is the income of the average mover. Birmingham seems to be attracting a new generation of workers. And the verdict? They like it.
Brum in Brief
🪧Strikes could be on the cards at Dudley and Stoke-on-Trent councils where members of Unite the Union, mostly employed in housing maintenance, plumbing and heating work have turned down a 3.2% pay offer. If voted for, the union has indicated that other councils in the region may follow suit. “We will continue to engage with staff and union representatives throughout the process," said a spokesperson from Stoke-on-Trent council. (BBC).
⚠️Selly Oak and Weoley councillor Jamie Tennant has stepped down from his role in the Labour cabinet, after allegations of sexual harassment. Harborne Conservative candidate, Hugo Rasenberg, accused Tennant of making inappropriate remarks to him two years ago, when he was working for the Tory party at the mayoral election count. Separate allegations have now emerged that Tennant used council and Labour Party premises for sexual encounters, with complaints made to the party. Tennant has stood down from his cabinet role as member for social justice, community, and equalities, but remains a councillor. (Birmingham Mail).
🚓 A Birmingham-man has been arrested as part of an investigation into migrant smuggling gangs. (ITV).
🚊£50 million has been made available for key transport projects in the West Midlands: including a tramline to the new Birmingham City stadium. (New Civil Engineer).
“I was dreading moving to Birmingham,” 28-year-old nurse Warda tells me with a giggle. “If you’d asked me six months ago about living here, I’d have said: get me back to Sheffield!”
At 5pm on a Friday, Birmingham is heaving. The steel city native and I were supposed to meet at Blank Street, her favourite place to get coffee. But, it’s rush hour and, naturally, the queue was out the door. Instead, I’m sitting on the floor in a packed New Street station, legs crossed, earphones in, scribbling away as I chat over the phone to Warda about her move last year.
Sometimes I forget that Birmingham can be like this — that it’s one of England’s largest cities and once was second only to London in significance (let’s be honest — Manchester is currently occupying that position in reality). My lulling train from Stourbridge Junction every morning doesn’t quite feel like a proper commuter rush, and my five-minute walk to Dispatch HQ in the Jewellery Quarter isn’t enough to make me think — yes, this is where it’s at.
Birmingham doesn’t have that much buzz about it at the moment. Perhaps this explains high levels of outward migration. Last year, the Office of National Statistics calculated that 79,500 people moved away from the city, the biggest exodus of the top 50 most populated places in the UK.
But, brighter days might be coming. An economic advisory firm recently forecast Birmingham’s economy to grow by 16% over the next decade, slightly ahead of the national average of 15%. A review by property firm Knight Frank ascribes that figure to the growing number of finance firms — like HSBC and Goldman Sachs — opening offices in the city, helped along by the promise of HS2 and bus franchising, set to be rolled out in autumn of this year.
Residential and commercial development is up as a result. Deloitte recorded 23 new residential projects launched in 2025, double the numbers from the year previous. Plus, 4,954 homes were built — the highest figure ever for new residential dwellings in Birmingham.
Maybe all this goes towards explaining why Birmingham is also a pretty popular place to move to. According to data from comparison site Reallymoving, which analyses UK conveyancing forms, legal documents recording the transfer of property ownership from one person to another. In 2025, Birmingham’s ‘B’ postcode accounted for 3.04% of all recorded moves, the highest percentage across the whole of the UK — beating Manchester (2.52%), Bristol (2.07%), and Belfast (2%).
And whereas ONS data on net migration includes temporary overseas students, which skews the picture, the data from Reallymoving reflects moves requiring conveyancing, rather than all relocations or international migration. Translation: it points to a clear rise in demand for Brum-based property.
Plus, there are more high earners moving in among this cohort. The University of Birmingham’s latest economic review, shows rents rising (boo) in tandem with the arrival of higher earners (yay?). In 2025, the number of movers earning over £70,000 increased by 26%.
The new Brummies
Warda is not earning over £70,000 but last year she did secure her dream job, as an occupational health advisor at Queen Elizabeth Hospital. I found her on TikTok, initially, where she had posted a slideshow video of her move captioned “Moving to Birmingham (scary)”. “Worst decision ever,” replied one commenter.
Warda was “scared and anxious”, before arriving; she had been told Birmingham was dangerous. “Everyone said the same thing,” she told me. “It’s not a nice city. Don’t move there.” But, the career opportunity was too good to ignore, so she bit the bullet.
A year on, she is settled in a £825pcm city centre flat near Pigeon Park, sharing it with only her kitten, Xuki. When she first moved, Warda lived with a flatmate who she had never met before, in the Jewellery Quarter. She tells me that was a “nightmare experience”, as the pair fell out, making her first months in Birmingham that much harder.
After moving to her own flat, however, Warda surprised herself and is enjoying getting acquainted with the city that turned out to be more welcoming than its detractors had warned. She loves the “hustle and bustle of the city centre”, and grabbing a pizza at Digbeth’s Baked in Brick; next on her must-try list is Damascena. “Online really does only show the bad parts of the city,” she notes. “I’m sure it scares a lot of people.”
Warda fits a profile shared by most of the Brum movers who are willing to talk to me: young professionals, a category which varies from London commuters to project managers.
Dan Hicklin, 31, is among their number. Originally from Derby, he’d been living in London for three years when family illness meant a sudden move to Kings Heath last September with his girlfriend. Hicklin was already relatively familiar with Birmingham, he tells me, and had a few friends in the city. His girlfriend is from south Birmingham, meaning “we wouldn’t have bought anywhere else,”.
The pair considered Moseley, Bournville, and Kings Heath. Bournville was quickly ruled out, because there weren’t many pubs and it wasn’t a busy enough environment for the young couple. Between Moseley and Kings Heath, they decided the latter was more worth the money.
“The best thing about Birmingham is the people,” Hicklin says, without hesitation. Kings Heath in particular, he thinks, has a great sense of community and lots going on, mentioning nook for art, All Saints Church for music, and cycling and litter picking groups.
He is aware, though, of being part of what he diplomatically calls a “new wave of people moving to Kings Heath,” the aforementioned young professionals, in their 20s and 30s. But locals have been really welcoming; Hicklin often chats with neighbours, and finds his whole street really friendly. On the “new wave”, Hicklin thinks it’s inevitable, thanks to HS2 and the new Kings Heath station. He frames it as positive: “it’s often this demographic that are good supporters of independent shops and restaurants.”
“Put yourself out there, go to the voluntary groups, invest in your local community, go to the pub alone and talk to people,” is Hicklin’s advice for newcomers.
Although he still commutes to the capital once a week for council work in Hackney, he still occasionally misses his former home. The pub culture is London’s main selling point, in his opinion. He doesn’t think there’s the same kind of pubs in Birmingham, or the same after work alfresco drinking culture. “Maybe in the city centre,” Hicklin says, but certainly not to the same extent as London.
But in Birmingham, he’s found a close community, more financial freedom, and space — in the capital, Hicklin and his girlfriend were considering buying a one-bed flat. In Kings Heath, the couple have bought a lovely three-bed house.
Housing was a major motivation for another young couple who are also now set up in Kings Heath. Alex, a 26-year-old project manager originally from Newcastle, and her partner, Kent, a 'software-as-a-service' support manager originally from the Philippines. The pair moved here from Wolverhampton after saving to buy their first home as Alex works in Birmingham. They chose Kings Heath because it “has everything” the couple need. They love drinking local lager at the Hare and Hounds, like the “quirky” feeling of the high street, and say the pedestrianisation of York Road was a massive draw.
Their home was “affordable”, Alex tells me, but admits a few caveats: the house needs lots of renovations and there’s no drive.
This didn’t put the couple off. They love the close-knit feel of Kings Heath, as well as the green spaces. They’re looking at the long-term too, and the abundance of schools, and families makes them feel like they can “stay there for [their] future kids.”
But nowhere is perfect. The council is “mismanaged”, says Alex, with cuts to essential services so keenly felt that she and Kent don’t bother contacting the local authority when there’s a problem anymore after struggling to get help when their bin was stolen. But Alex is keen to talk up Birmingham, especially its nature.
“According to the Birmingham Tree People website, Birmingham has roughly a million trees,” she tells me. “And I believe them. It’s my favourite thing about the city.”
The returner
Having recently returned to the West Midlands myself after four years away, it’s almost strange to hear newcomers praise Birmingham. My experience of speaking about the city and the wider region is usually one coloured by defensiveness, rather than excitement.
I’m not alone; initial outreach for this story was met by the likes of Facebook commenters telling me that people couldn’t possibly be moving here. “Someone has been pulling [your] leg,” one person insisted. Birmingham, another said, is a “shit tip”.
One less dismissive remark noted: “that many of the people who have moved here from elsewhere are more enthusiastic about it than locals.” For long-term residents, then, perhaps the city’s reinvention feels slower than it does to those arriving fresh.
Author Hunsara — who prefers I don’t use her surname — returned to Birmingham in 2025 after a decade living in London. Originally from Lozells, she’s come back after finding saving to buy a house in the capital “almost impossible.”
“Birmingham wasn’t lively enough for me when I was younger,” she says. “It’s changed a lot now, but, if I could afford to stay in London forever I would.”
However, this time round, she’s far more fond of the city than when she left. The Jewellery Quarter is one of her favourite places for its atmosphere and coffee shops. Damascena gets another shout out as a foodie must-visit, as do the city’s green spots: Hunsara lists her favourite parks: Handsworth is top for its huge lake and ducks.
Although London still has her heart, she says Birmingham’s positive trajectory is obvious. Change is clearest in the city centre, she thinks, but Hunsara notes that even Lozells — which she believes has a bad reputation — is better than she remembers it. It’s got: “cute cafes and restaurants on the main road now. There is still a long way to go, but it’s nicer.”
Most of the reasons I hear for relocation to Brum are practical: cheaper housing, career, family. Only one person I speak to has ended up here from a burning desire to be in the West Midlands — and he’s already left.
Marwan Qureshi arrived in Birmingham last summer having never visited the city before. But as soon as he arrived, he “fell in love.”
Originally from Muscat, Oman, and a finance graduate from the University of the West of England, Qureshi returned to his home country after graduating. But, he ended up moving to Birmingham in search of work without knowing a single person in the city. I talk to Qureshi right after Warda, still cross-legged on the floor of New Street.
When I ask why Birmingham, he's instantly animated.
“I looked at a lot of different cities like Manchester and Leeds but I liked Birmingham the most. It felt like a good alternative to London, less expensive, but still lots to do. Moving [there] last year was one of the best decisions I ever made.”
Like many newcomers in a strange city, Qureshi confesses he initially struggled to make friends. But, having set up the successful ‘Moustache Society’ in Muscat — a social club for men to make friends — he decided to do the same here. By the time he left Birmingham last year, the group had managed to get 10 permanent members in only a couple of months, all mainly young professionals in their 20s and 30s.
“Most of the members are local Brummies who have also struggled to make friends as they got older. I met one of my best friends, a local Brummie, through the society, and he’s one of the best people I’ve ever met,” Qureshi tells me. “Everyone in Birmingham is so friendly.”
After living in our city for only four months, he was smitten. He had a tight circle of friends, enjoyed playing badminton, and frequented Chance and Counters board game cafe with his friends, and loved grabbing food at Shababs Balti or (once again) Damascena — the best part of Birmingham, for him, is the food.
But Qureshi found it hard to find a finance role in Birmingham. When an opportunity presented itself in Muscat, he returned home, but says he “misses Birmingham every day” and is still applying for jobs in the city in the hope that he can come back. It’s an interesting suggestion that if more finance and tech jobs appear, there are people ready and waiting to fill them.
The Birmingham of 2036 is not yet visible to us. But it's the movers now who are a weathervane of what the city might look like in 10 years. Young, upwardly mobile and excited about Birmingham — maybe the future is brighter than many have dared to think.
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