In London, living near the office is becoming much more affordable. House prices in London City slumped 10.8% in January. According to a Chartered Surveyors report, Tower Hamlets was founded by the rival financial district Canary Wharf, with values decreasing by 9.5%.
Although the rest of the United Kingdom experienced a housing boom during the pandemic, central London saw it as sliding rents weigh prices.
The best deals are found in the heart of the national government, the City of Westminster. There were 37 per cent falling prices compared to the previous year – the sharpest fall in the capital.
As residents moved to greener areas with more space and thousands of migrants left London, rents in some of the wealthiest districts have plummeted, causing investors to steer straightforward central city deals. This resulted in price increases even as several support measures were introduced by the government, extending a home buyer tax holiday last week and announcing a low-deposit mortgage scheme.
“Regions have benefited because urban residents chose to work from home with far fewer transportation,” said Richard Sexton, E.surv’s director. “Changes in lifestyle and changes in the stamp duty worked together to support last year’s price rises.”
However, it may slow down to more green pastures. In the three months from December to February, the overalls of Greater London and neighbouring parts of eastern and southwestern London enjoyed the lowest regional annual growth rates despite continued demand in the city’s Greener Boroughs.
This “probably indicates that the movement from central and central London to the suburbs of the capital has largely gone on.”
London has a relatively small number of housing units, so a tiny amount of sales can skew the price falls. The Docklands area around Canary Wharf, on the other hand, has seen a construction boom in the last five years, with luxury apartment towers aimed at young finance workers.
Source: Bloomberg
