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@Lw.
I'm another that's moved out of London, though I still work in central.
My reasons were more than just financial (other half needed to commute to Wiltshire) but the renting game felt like a piss take to me. Paying off someone elses mortgage becomes galling after a while esp when you see the comparative mortgage payments on your own property combined with re-sale value means even if the house prices stop rising it's only costing you the interest (which is much less than rent).
I now live a 25 minute train journey out from Paddington in a two bed Victorian terrace with garden in a town that has all the urban grime a hipster can ask for.
Definitely worth it if you want to buy - you can buy a normal house on a nice road for very little compared to what it's costing people to buy dingy leasehold flats in not desirable parts of the city. The downsides are obviously there for everyone to see so I won't bother listing them but I think it's worth saying that life outside the M25 isn't that bad.