London renters are leaving the capital at the highest rate in a decade

[PeanutButter]

https://www.timeout.com/london/news/london-renters-are-leaving-the-capital-at-the-highest-rate-in-a-decade-021423

Have London's ridiculous rents finally broken us? Tenants are leaving the Big Smoke at the highest rate in a decade: according to research, last year 40 percent of renters moving house chose to leave the city, the largest exodus in ten years.  

For 90,370 people, having instant access to Torres crisps, Perello olives and independent craft breweries wasn’t enough to keep them in London, where rents have reached an all-time high. 

[stuckmojo]

It's either young people prepared to live like students, benefit recipients who don't bear the cost or very rich people who can afford to live in London. 

There's another mass of people who bought when really cheap but that was at least 25 years ago 

[NoHPCinTheUK]

I live in London. This city is no longer attractive. It is expensive and I am afraid even with a combined income of around £100k life is not what the pitch "global London" is trying to sell. The breaking point is when, on a £60kish salary, you realise that you don't really have all the paper in place you'd need to ride the horse towards the sunny lands of wealth. I am only 33, maybe I'll make it to the £100k mark but I guess a little will change. 

We have to accept that society is, after all, a pyramid or an intrensecely hierarchical structure. This is a city designed for the top 5%, a city that declared war to the middle class which is seen only as cash cow or even worse an unwanted presence with all our demands for cheap mobility, services and family friendly schemes. 

If you're a student from China, a single or a gay London is the best place in the world anyway. 

Edited February 14, 2023 by NoHPCinTheUK

[stuckmojo]

1 minute ago, NoHPCinTheUK said:

I live in London. This city is no longer attractive. It is expensive and I am afraid even with a combined income of around £100k life is not what the pitch "global London" is trying to sell. The breaking point is when, on a £60kish salary, you realise that you don't really have all the paper in place you'd need to ride the horse towards the sunny lands of wealth. I am only 33, maybe I'll make it to the £100k mark but I guess a little will change. 

We have to accept that society is, after all, a pyramid or an intrensecely hierarchical structure. This is a city designed for the top 5%, a city that declared war to the middle class which is seen only as cash cow or even worse an unwanted presence with all our demands for cheap mobility, services and family friendly schemes. 

When you make it to £100k, taxes will eat you alive on every penny extra you work for and you lose a lot of state services. 

 

Every extra pound you earn weighs much more than it's worth. 

And you still need double that to buy an acceptable freehold house in London. 

 

****** that 

[Si1]

17 minutes ago, stuckmojo said:

When you make it to £100k, taxes will eat you alive on every penny extra you work for and you lose a lot of state services. 

 

Every extra pound you earn weighs much more than it's worth. 

And you still need double that to buy an acceptable freehold house in London. 

 

****** that 

Is London due a 70s style economic and house price correction?

[stuckmojo]

1 minute ago, Si1 said:

Is London due a 70s style economic and house price correction?

That or depopulation balanced with a creation of ghettos. 

[PeanutButter]

27 minutes ago, NoHPCinTheUK said:

If you're a student from China, a single or a gay London is the best place in the world anyway. 

Speaking as a single, gay, Chinese student - yes! Much better than uncle’s factory in Guangzhou. 

[Si1]

2 minutes ago, stuckmojo said:

That or depopulation balanced with a creation of ghettos. 

Part of the same process.

 

[Up the spout]

I'm not sure what to make of this. In the summer of 2021 there were loads of rooms available to rent in central London for £350-500/month, which I assumed was because of covid and Brexit, but now there are still loads available but for double the money. If more than ever have moved away, why are prices so high? Maybe I'm overlooking something..

[MarkD]

My daughter's been looking, the priced are insane. Just to help matters her company is in the process of moving further in making things even more expensive and even more difficult for its employees! Got to feel sorry for them really, genius is a gift, stupidity is a curse!!!

[winkie]

2 hours ago, Up the spout said:

I'm not sure what to make of this. In the summer of 2021 there were loads of rooms available to rent in central London for £350-500/month, which I assumed was because of covid and Brexit, but now there are still loads available but for double the money. If more than ever have moved away, why are prices so high? Maybe I'm overlooking something..

I suppose like many shops are empty, reduce the rent = reduce the value?

[Maghull Mike]

I know a bloke who is now WFH, lived in London for 12 years......delighted to have got out to live in Lancs.

Low crime, lots of good roads, mostly empty of 9;00pm, close to Aintree & Oulton Park for track days. Easy parking most places...........

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11749689/Fury-touch-Sadiq-Khan-war-drivers.html

 

Mike

[bearishonhouses]

I have a nephew and niece (sort of - children of old friends), both very early 30s. Nephew has a PhD in chemistry but after a few years post doc became a chartered accountant and is married to a lawyer in a top ranked firm in London. Niece works in forestry management in the west country (and I think her husband is similarly not highly paid). Just recently, comparing notes, they realized that the standard of living the 'rich' couple have (now with child) does not come close to the way the 'poor' couple live. And the London couple, I think, live in a small ex-slum house, not half the size of what the west country couple can afford. It is not clear how long London can survive in this way. 

[70PC]

6 hours ago, Up the spout said:

I'm not sure what to make of this. In the summer of 2021 there were loads of rooms available to rent in central London for £350-500/month, which I assumed was because of covid and Brexit, but now there are still loads available but for double the money. If more than ever have moved away, why are prices so high? Maybe I'm overlooking something..

Good question. I don't the answer but supply and demand does not always dictate price. How often do letting agents talk to each other? Many are also selling properties, so inflated rents are a win win. 

[Ballyk]

This is also a heartening article - 

https://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/companies/news/1005929/house-prices-landlords-flee-the-market-while-london-sees-mass-tenant-exodus-1005929.html

 

House prices: Landlords flee the market while London sees mass tenant exodus

British landlords are exiting the market at the highest rate in three years, resulting in 66 fewer properties on the rental market per day in 2022, according to a Hamptons International analysis of Countrywide (LSE:CWD) data.

Landlords sold 35,000 more properties than they bought in 2022, marking a 17% surge in net property losses compared to 2021, with landlords making up 16% of property sales last year and a mere 13% of purchases.

Soaring mortgage prices resulting from the Bank of England’s rate hikes, combined with unfavourable tax changes, have been cited are core reasons behind the exodus.

Buy-to-let rates have doubled in the past year; HSBC’s two-year fixed rate on a 60% loan-to-value mortgage, for instance, currently has a 5.49% rate followed by a 6.35% variable.

etc

[stuckmojo]

7 hours ago, Ballyk said:

This is also a heartening article - 

https://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/companies/news/1005929/house-prices-landlords-flee-the-market-while-london-sees-mass-tenant-exodus-1005929.html

 

House prices: Landlords flee the market while London sees mass tenant exodus

British landlords are exiting the market at the highest rate in three years, resulting in 66 fewer properties on the rental market per day in 2022, according to a Hamptons International analysis of Countrywide (LSE:CWD) data.

Landlords sold 35,000 more properties than they bought in 2022, marking a 17% surge in net property losses compared to 2021, with landlords making up 16% of property sales last year and a mere 13% of purchases.

Soaring mortgage prices resulting from the Bank of England’s rate hikes, combined with unfavourable tax changes, have been cited are core reasons behind the exodus.

Buy-to-let rates have doubled in the past year; HSBC’s two-year fixed rate on a 60% loan-to-value mortgage, for instance, currently has a 5.49% rate followed by a 6.35% variable.

etc

Excellent 

[winkie]

Think about it, those landlords selling up in London are very unlikely to buy again in London, they will be taking any equity  money to spend elsewhere where can get more for their money......home or abroad.

[Bob8]

9 hours ago, bearishonhouses said:

I have a nephew and niece (sort of - children of old friends), both very early 30s. Nephew has a PhD in chemistry but after a few years post doc became a chartered accountant and is married to a lawyer in a top ranked firm in London. Niece works in forestry management in the west country (and I think her husband is similarly not highly paid). Just recently, comparing notes, they realized that the standard of living the 'rich' couple have (now with child) does not come close to the way the 'poor' couple live. And the London couple, I think, live in a small ex-slum house, not half the size of what the west country couple can afford. It is not clear how long London can survive in this way. 

This is often depicted as the "rich" couple being daft.

I moved from St Helens, got a degree, a PhD, and had a worse lifestyle than many who stayed in St Helens and got a decent job there.

The issue is that the option of a decent job in St Helens or the area was not there. The options were terrible dead end jobs or chasing elsewhere.