United Kingdom London Rebounds— Slowly But Surely

“The exodus from London by ‘lifestyle’ buyers was a genuine feature of our market for a while, but we’ve seen a reversal of this trend in recent months as those who moved out faced the realities of country living in isolated locations,” explained Cliff Gardiner, head of sales, Berkshire Hathaway London Kay & Co and Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Marler & Marler.

The mass departure from London during the height of the pandemic was actually fairly overstated by the media, Gardiner said. “In reality, a small section of the market made the decision to leave the city, thinking they wouldn’t have to come into London as often.

“It caused a spike in prices in areas where the market hasn’t traditionally spiked—and caused resentment in country villages outside of London towards ‘the London buyer’ who may prove to have paid far too much for their country properties. Those who moved out are seeing the disadvantages of relying on oversubscribed train services, having been called back into offices more often than they had anticipated for face-to-face meetings.”

While the property market is picking up in London, “buyers are understandably being quite cautious,” said Gardiner. “We are having to work hard to reassure property buyers that they are not about to see further price falls during this flat economic cycle and period of relatively high inflation. It’s actually a great time to trade up in property whilst prices are flat and the market is relatively calm.

“Inevitably, we’ll start to see a bit more stability in global politics and the beginnings of a positive economic cycle as we progress through 2023. The current climate encourages buyers to take much longer than usual over property buying decisions.”

“The buyers are out there,” Gardiner added, “we’re just working a lot harder than in previous years to get transactions over the line.”

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices

London

Kay & Co

Hathaway HomeServices Marler & Marler

Berkshire