As a department, the very nature of our role is about helping those who are re-locating to the UK for work reasons find somewhere to call home. At the beginning of 2020, we were as busy as ever supporting people employed in a variety of industries who were moving here from all over the world, from graduates through to senior executives. Then, almost overnight, the way we live and work changed – and as a result of international travel restrictions, many wondered what would come of those re-locating from overseas for work.
While last year employee re-location was understandably much lower than normal, nearly 18 months on we’re now at pre-pandemic levels in terms of enquiries and in some cases, exceeding that. It’s certainly a big leap compared with what we saw in 2020, but perhaps acts as a good indication of the importance and emphasis that global companies of all kinds are placing on their UK-based workforce.
In terms of what people are looking for, it’s perhaps no surprise that themes we have seen across corporate re-locations have mirrored many of the trends in the wider lettings and sales market, more space and green space being among the biggest drivers. As a result, certain tenants are being much more flexible in where they are prepared live.
Traditionally, those re-locating would often look to settle in places where they had friends or colleagues, but now they seem to be a lot more open to new locations because their living and lifestyle priorities have changed. For example, I recently worked on a search where someone was eager to be in a vibrant part of east London and to absorb all that the city has to offer – completely different to what they were used to in domestic south west London. Being able to introduce someone to an area they’d never heard of or visited and then seeing them settle there and embrace their new neighbourhood has to be one of the most gratifying aspects of our job.
When it comes to families, schooling is the criteria that will almost always form the basis of their search and that hasn’t changed. This means their search tends to be concentrated on a tighter patch and, particularly given stock shortages, there’s now competition from a variety of tenants for these well-located, best-in-class family rental properties, too.
At the other end of the education spectrum, we’re seeing incoming first and second year international students, the latter unable to be here last year due to travel restrictions. They too prefer to be within close and often walking distance of their universities, often in modern accommodation offering concierge facilities, which means they’re coming up against the professionals returning to the capital and their offices as they start to open up.
In some ways, the seasonal nature of the lettings market has remained – families moving in late spring and students arriving ready for the start of the academic year in September. But there’s definitely been some flexibility in that and we expect the current busy period of activity to stretch through to the autumn.
The prospect of relocating to a new city or country for work has long been a way for employers to attract talent and what activity over the last few months shows is that for many this is a reality and opportunity once more.
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