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People are leaving the city as the coronavirus lockdown eases and they work from home elsewhere
Private rents are falling in London at an extraordinary pace. Figures prepared exclusively for the Guardian by Rightmove reveal that in zone 2 of the capital, rental asking prices are down by 8% since February alone. They are falling even more dramatically in the heart of the city (down 18%), but that’s only the international market, which has little to do with real workers. What the zone 2 figures (they cover areas such as Hackney, Brixton, Camden Town, Finsbury Park, Hammersmith and others) tell us is that tenants are fleeing London, and the property market is cracking.
Take the story of 29-year-old bank worker Elaine – she asked me not to give her real name – who is one of many quitting the capital. She has rented in south London for seven years since graduating, but this week she’s handing in the keys to her Tooting flat, heading instead to the commuter town she came from. But she won’t be doing any commuting. The £850 a month she used to pay for just a bedroom in her London flatshare will pay for her own flat with plenty of space, where she will work from home. Continue reading...