LONDON: GROWING MOMENTUM

Momentum has been growing in the London property market since around Q3 2021, as Covid-related restrictions started to ease and people started returning to the capital, especially the inner areas. Supply has been soaked up by the strong demand all and to a point where both price growth and rental growth is the strongest in the country.

We see considerable upside for London as the UK and the rest of the world transitions to livingwith-Covid. People are eager to get on with their lives, get back into the office and just get out and about enjoying life - all of which will benefit London’s property market.

The trips taken on the Underground are still only about 70 per cent of pre-Covid levels and passengers passing through Heathrow Airport are a little over half that of pre-Covid levels there is considerable upside still available.The Battersea and Nine-Elms stations extension to the Northern line was completed late in 2021, creating more transport options for this inner city regeneration area and with the Elizabeth line due to open this year it will be easier than ever to get around London.

Greater London saw a little more than 37,000 new dwellings in the 2020/2021 period - almost 30 per cent below the target of 52,000 new dwellings a year.This undersupply should result in a continued supply / demand imbalance for the next few years, keeping upward pressure on property prices and rents.

Eli McGeever is Director, Research & Technology Innovation at One Global Labs. www.ogpsglobal.com/