The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Money
‘Remote working means I can finally move to London’
The tale of the London worker is a familiar one. Typically, a person gets a job in the capital, pays a lot of money to rent or buy a home near their workplace, and then later moves into the commuter belt because they need space that they cannot afford in the city.
The pandemic sped up this pattern for many people – particularly as young families grappled with homeschooling.
But for some young professionals, lockdown made them reassess their lives and move in the opposite direction. Access to a local support network mattered more.
For a niche group, remote working means the opportunity to relocate into London, despite the fact that they do not work there.
Alex Staton, 27, has lived in Reading, where he works for a tech company, for six years. Two years ago, he bought a flat within easy reach of his local office. But during the pandemic, he became a remote worker. “It became apparent there was literally no reason to live in Reading,” said Mr Staton.
“Lockdown made me think about what I value between now and the age of 32,” he added. “At that point, maybe I will move out of London, but until then, I want to enjoy my social life.”
Mr Staton is switching to a buy-to-let mortgage to rent out his flat in Reading, and plans to move to London with his girlfriend, Isabella Nwaoko, also 27.
Mr Staton expects to charge £1,200 to £1,250 per month in rent for his flat, which will just cover his £1,050 outgoings on the property. The couple plan to find a flat near friends in south London with a budget of £1,500 to £1,600.
London’s pulling power is still growing. In 2019, the share of London buyers moving from outside the capital was 12.4pc, according to Hamptons estate agents. So far in 2021, the share has been 13.5pc – the highest since 2015.
Naturally, this movement has been driven by younger movers. In the London Borough of Hackney, almost half (49pc) of the people that moved into the local authority from outside London were aged 25 to 40, according to Hamptons analysis of Office for National Statistics data.
The boroughs on the fringes of the centre were most popular: Wandsworth, Lambeth and Tower Hamlets drew in the largest numbers of 25- to 40-year-olds from outside the city.
Oliver Sloggett-Taylor, of Savills’ Wandsworth, Clapham and Battersea office, said young families who worked elsewhere had taken the opportunity to move in because they though schools were better. He said: “One said they are advancing their child’s education by moving to London.”
For Mr Staton, the move made financial sense. “When things opened up I was going to London every weekend. I got so sick of staying on people’s couches, I was staying in cheap hotels,” he said. “I was paying £35 for an off-peak return train ticket, £50 to stay somewhere, plus taxis in between. No longer paying those costs will cover the rent.”
During lockdown, many renters left the city. Now, they have returned – and because of the pandemic they place a greater value on having local support networks, said Mr Sloggett-Taylor.
“In the past few weeks there has been a big surge in the mid-aged professional sharer market, people aged 25 to 30 who want to shack up in fourbedroom houses with their friends,” he said.
Some renters have been “reverse commuters” for much longer than the pandemic. When Ellie James*, 28, first started work as a doctor in a Surrey hospital four years ago, she rented a room in a houseshare in nearby Redhill. But
‘Lockdown made it apparent there was literally no reason to be living in Reading’
there were few young professionals her own age locally. “I ended up commuting to London to see my friends most evenings,” said Ms James.
After a few months, she moved to Brixton in south London. Her drive to work takes an hour and 15 minutes on a good day. On a bad day, it can take her two-and-a-half hours. “But I’d rather pay higher rent and have a 40-mile round trip to work and be able to pop over to my friends’ for dinner.”
She added: “Through the pandemic that support network was even more vital. Having people to walk around Brockwell Park with was a way to decompress the gruelling shifts in intensive care. I’m not sure I could have got through it without them.”