The economic reopening and return to the office is already shifting the balance. New buyer applications in Foxtons’ central London offices have leapt 20pc to 30pc year-on-year in the past six weeks. This is roughly an 8pc rise on 2019 levels. “The fun factor is coming back into London,” said Mr Ennis.
Amelia Greene, of Savills estate agents, said corporate rental relocation inquiries fell by as much as 70pc last year versus 2019 levels. Now, they are only 10pc down.
The lockdown-fuelled flight to the countryside had the paradoxical effect of stoking a nascent demand for small, central flats, said Mr Ennis. As lockdown restrictions ease, buyers who fled the city for rural life are now hunting for pieds-à-terre. He noted one buyer who moved from Fulham to a £3.5m house near Windsor last year, who has just purchased a studio flat in the capital so that they can work three days a week in London.
Robin Chatwin, of Savills, said other buyers who moved out during the pandemic are returning. “They are now back in the office more than they expected and they want to come back. One buyer moved out down the A3 corridor and is now getting up at 5am to get into the office.”
Those who bought in the country a year ago are selling for a big profit.
Supply and demand
London is not suffering from the same chronic supply shortage as the rest of Britain. Data from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, a trade body, showed that new instructions are rising in London, suggesting those moving house are still selling up and moving out. In England and Wales, they are in rapid decline.
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