London has seen the third-largest decline at 4.8 per cent since May 2020

Updated by November ,26, 2020

Working From Home leads to rent falls in least affordable cities

Many of our less affordable cities have seen rent levels drop because of the trend for tenants to work from home and seek larger, less urban properties.

That’s the conclusion of lettings management platform Howsy.

It’s looked at the current cost of renting across 20 major UK cities and how this has changed since the property market reopened for business in May.

The cost of renting across the UK as a whole has seen a marginal increase, up by 0.6 per cent. However, with tenant demand falling as working from home becomes the new norm, some of the country’s largest cities have seen a notable drop in the average cost of renting.

Edinburgh has seen the largest decline, down six per cent from £1,085 per month to £1,020 now.

Cambridge has also seen a notable decline with rents falling 5.4 per cent since May, while London has seen the third-largest decline at 4.8 per cent.

Manchester, Oxford, Cardiff, Bournemouth and Liverpool also make the list in terms of rental cost declines across major UK cities.

But this hasn’t been the case across the board: Newport, Nottingham and Swansea have seen rent rises in excess of 10 per cent.

“The cities to be worst hit have largely been the least affordable, such as Edinburgh, Cambridge, London, Manchester and Oxford. With many now working from home, renting in these expensive cities doesn’t make much sense and so they’ve chosen to look further afield” says Howsy’s Calum Brennan.