Renters working from home: London’s stock makes it tough for tenants

A survey of private rental sectors in major European cities suggests London is one of the tougher locations for tenants working from home during the pandemic.

International rental platform Spotahome analysed data on the rental market across 14 major European cities looking at which had the highest proportion of stock with a space suitable to work from home.

The bad news for London’s tenants is that the capital rank with the lowest level of WFH rental properties. Spotahome claims just 24 per cent of rental homes currently listed on the market came with an appropriate working space. Paris and Dublin also ranked poorly, with just 29 per cent and 37 per cent of respective stock listed on the market specifically providing a space to work.

Valencia in Spain currently ranks as the capital for WFH rental homes. A huge 71 per cent of rental stock in the city come with suitable space to work, with Milan, Rome and Berlin with 60 per cent or more.

In fact, Spain and Italy are arguably the best nations where working from home in the rental market is concerned, with Madrid and Florence also ranking high with 54 per cent of rental market stock listed with a suitable area to work from.

The platform’s head of data and analytics Jorge Alonso says: “Working from home is certainly the new normal at present and while it remains unclear as to whether this will be the case when normality returns, some form of remote working is likely to remain.

“However, doing so requires a proper space in which to do so and the figures show that when it comes to suitable rental stock, London is lagging behind other major European cities.

"This presents London landlords with a great opportunity to stand out from the crowd by presenting a property with a great workspace, particularly in a time where tenant demand has fallen bringing rents with it.”