From The Daily Mail:
* More tenants ditch city living in favour of living in commuter towns and villages
* Between May and August 2020, 34% of tenants wanted at least one more room
* Upsizing costs more with tenants who do so paying £149 more per month
* LonRes survey also found that space and gardens are in demand among buyers
So 34% of tenants rented a slightly larger home after they moved against 25% in the previous quarter? That's not surprising as more people are working from home now, so they need more space at home, and what they save on season tickets or commute costs they can spend on renting somewhere larger. Plus, for every tenant trading up, there must be one trading down.
Tenants living in the South East of England are paying the most and have been the most likely to trade up, with 47 per cent of those moving post-lockdown adding at least one bedroom in their move. On average they are spending an additional £266 per month.
Yes, rents and prices in London are high to reflect the fact that wages are higher there, rents in the rest of the South East were slightly lower - people lived there but commuted into London, so the rents were depressed by commuting costs (Von Thünen's law of rent). Also, London was great for socialising, meetings, concerts and so on, but that has all fallen by the wayside now. Tenants' total rent-plus-commuting costs has probably gone down a bit, on average (assuming two adults commuting).
So far, so blah. Here's the interesting bit:
Renters remaining in the capital are benefiting from renters leaving in their droves for commuter towns and villages. It means, the average London-based tenant looking for more space spent £86 per month less, despite gaining at least one extra bedroom.
We'd expect that to happen, but it's nice to have confirmation of how big the fall is. £86 less for one extra room looks like about one-third less in space-adjusted terms, although HomeLet's August index says that London rents are only down by 2.1% year-on-year. Which I suppose is another interesting bit, how can two sources differ so wildly?
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