Home renters from the EU fall by a third in capital after turmoil over Brexit

Estate agents are ditching the term master bedroom
PA

The proportion of London renters who come from European Union countries has slumped by almost a third since 2017, new figures reveal today.

In 2017 almost 30 per cent of tenancy agreements in the capital were signed with EU citizens but by last year, after many months of turmoil over Brexit, this had fallen to 21 per cent.

Over the same period the proportion of tenancies signed with British citizens has jumped from 46.5 per cent to 59 per cent. The data, from property technology company Goodlord, is one of the clearest indications yet that London has become far less attractive to people from the European bloc. The biggest drops were on the suburban fringes of London where many migrant workers from eastern Europe made their homes because of the relatively low cost of accommodation.

The largest fall of all was in Ilford IG postcodes, where the proportion of EU renters collapsed from 34.9 per cent to 14.9 per cent over two years. There has also been a huge decline in Bromley BR postcodes, where the proportion of Europeans halved from 28.6 per cent to 13.9 per cent.

The drops were far smaller in central London with west central WC postcodes seeing the proportion of European renters falling by just three percentage points, from 23.1 per cent to 19.8 per cent.

Across all 20 London postcode districts the proportion of Europeans becoming tenants fell in 19 with just Dagenham DA postcodes seeing a small rise. Goodlord chief operating officer Tom Mundy said: “The EU referendum result has had a clear impact on the letting markets in London and the UK at large. We’ve seen the number of EU nationals signing leases steadily decreasing across the board, meaning UK residents now represent a greater proportion of tenants across the whole of London.

“This is a cause for concern as the talent and spending power of Europeans has looked elsewhere for a place to call home ever since the Brexit result was announced.”

Today’s data follows figures from the Office for National Statistics last year showing that the number of EU citizens moving to the UK for work has halved since the referendum in June 2016.

The total sank from 190,000 in the year to June 2016 to 92,000 in the year to last March. Employers in sectors such as hospitality, construction and healthcare have said it has become increasingly hard to recruit and retain staff from the European Union over the past three years.

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