For the first time in 30 years, London’s population is falling. Coronavirus has stemmed the flow of migrants into the capital and created new reasons for residents to depart. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, almost 700,000 foreign-born residents may have left the city, according to one estimate by the government-funded Economic Statistics Centre of Excellence (ESCoE).
The loss — which at that level would be equal to about 8 per cent of London’s population — is already being felt in the city’s property market. Rental prices in inner London have fallen sharply since the start of the pandemic, and the number of property sales in the capital’s prime, central areas has dropped as international buyers have been kept away.
But will this be a shortlived dip, or something more sustained? With the vaccine rollout under way, some experts think that overseas renters and buyers will return in droves once shops and businesses can reopen.