20 per cent drop in EU nationals moving into UK lettings market

Goodlord, a property technology company, analysed 150,000 tenancies processed through their platform for letting agents between March 2018 and March 2019. The statistics offer a stark picture of the decline in EU nationals moving to London and England as a whole.

EU nationals went from representing 18.5% of all tenants in England in March 2018, to just 14.9% in March – a 20% fall in the number of EU nationals overall. The decline was as stark in London as it was across the country as a whole, with EU nationals representing 29.7% of tenants in the capital in March 2018, compared to just 23.7% now.

Every month since March 2018 has seen a net reduction in the number of EU nationals signing new leases. By contrast, during the previous year (March 2017 – March 2018), nine out of thirteen months saw a net gain in EU nationals settling here.

The biggest falls were amongst EU citizens from Ireland, Poland and France.

The month which saw the biggest year-on-year reduction across the country was October 2018, the same month that the EU-UK were due to settle on a deal but failed to reach a consensus. During that month alone, a drop of 8% was recorded.

The number of new residents from non-EU countries has remained fairly steady, with only a small dip of 1.5% year-on-year. Numbers arriving from China dipped, although arrivals from the US saw an increase.

William Reeve, CEO of Goodlord said, “The referencing checks Goodlord has been doing on the hundreds of thousands of tenants going through our technology platform paint a very clear picture of the impact that Brexit is having on the UK property market.

“Over the past year there has been a 20% decline in the number of EU nationals taking up rental tenancies in England. The figures clearly show a much steeper decline in EU nationals compared to those coming from further afield where the numbers have held almost steady.

“This represents a real worry not just for landlords, but for the wider economy. The talent and spending power of Europeans is being taken elsewhere.”