Despite many predictions suggesting that professionals are heading out of London and offices may no longer be a requirement for many companies in the capital, BAM’s data shows the opposite - a steady increase in the past two weeks of renters heading back post-lockdown-easing – suggesting a positive outlook for London’s rental market should it continue.
Comparing the weeks of 25th to 31st May, and 1st to 7th June, BAM has witnessed a 101% increase in young professionals renting permanent co-living accommodation in London. This is the largest influx in rental numbers since mid-March. BAM expects this increase in rentals from young professionals to continue, with enquiry numbers from properties now matching those experienced in the week of 9 – 15th March, two weeks prior to lockdown.
Alex Gibbs, Co-Founder of BAM, commented on the data: “Despite some sensationalist headlines predicting the end of the corporate office space, and a move towards permanent home-working from more remote locations, our figures show that young professionals haven’t fled the City for good and are in fact now returning in fairly healthy numbers. Based on this data, in conjunction with the broader market activity that we are seeing, we predict a steady increase in young professional migration back into London for the remainder of this year.
“This definitely bodes well for the London rental market which is heavily exposed to the young professional demographic. Investors and stakeholders should feel buoyed by the reversal in direction of travel in terms of supply and demand, which had previously been moving towards increased supply and reduced demand since mid-March, thereby creating uncertainty and uneasiness in the industry.”
