Working from home is killing London

I was born and raised in London and, for a long time, I didn’t think there was anywhere else on Earth that I’d rather live.

In June, I managed the impossible ( with the help of my parents) and bought a flat in a pretty part of southeast London.

And yet, less than six months later, every now and again I find myself on Rightmove searching for homes far away from the capital, imagining what life could be like in a tiny terraced house within walking distance of Brighton beach or a picturesque bungalow on the Cornish coast.

Many friends have already fled the capital and others are planning on leaving in the next couple of years. They cite all the usual reasons – the exorbitant cost of property, the desire for more space, soaring childcare costs and worries about crime.

To state the obvious, you need a hell of a lot of money to live in London nowadays. London is fast becoming a city that only lawyers and bankers can afford to inhabit. But no city can survive just on bankers and lawyers – nurses, teachers, train drivers and a myriad other professions are required to ensure the smooth running of a metropolis.

I have felt the capital’s decline for a while. London has never been an easy place to live – it was always crowded and expensive. But there used to be a pay-off. There was the world-class culture, exciting happenings on every street corner and bountiful opportunities that you simply would not find elsewhere. London no longer feels like that land of opportunity. No one seems all that enthusiastic to be here any more.

The stagnant economy is mainly to blame. But the new working- fromhome culture has played a role too. Why bother living in London if you just work from your sitting room? Part of the exodus happening all around me is down to my age. I’m 35 and in the stage of life when traditionally people clear out of the big cities to settle down in more affordable spots where they can spread out and enjoy a quieter pace of life. But it’s not all down to that natural drift.

The young are steering clear of the capital too. With rents at record highs and the average cost of renting a room now £1,000 a month, tenants are leaving London at the highest rate in a decade. Almost half of the capital’s 18 to 24- year- olds intend to move out within the next 10 years, according to a YouGov survey. So much for a young, hip city.

Still, I’m never going to bet against London. This is the city of Dickens and Shakespeare, of the Swinging Sixties, the city that survived the Great Fire, the plague and the bombing of the Second World War.

I do not doubt it will recover from this slump but I do wonder how long it will take and how many of us will have cleared out by the time recovery begins.