Workers still aren’t heading back to the city

Workers still aren’t heading back to the city

There was probably a point back around March or April 2020 when we thought this would all blow over within a few months and we’d be back to normal in no time. That now feels an awfully long time ago and, in fairness, 20 months is a long time.

There are many things that we can look back at and compare to now, that are more or less back to normal. Who remembers eat out to help out? How about wearing a mask from the door of the pub for the 15 steps to your table, only to remove it once seated?

Thankfully we’re somewhere nearer to normality than we were back then and, whilst there are of course, still some precautions in place to protect vulnerable people, we can by and large go about our day with freedom to do as we like.

It feels strange now to recall a time when, legally, we weren’t even supposed to go out of the house unless we were going for a walk or up to the shop.

There are some things that have stayed around, though. Amazon’s share price during the pandemic doubled, for example, with people’s shopping habits having seemingly shifted to completely online. There are other habits too, such as online shopping for food and groceries, as well as continuing to wear masks on public transport and crowded areas.

Something that’s having a bigger impact than all of these though is workers failing to return to the office and city centres.

Workers are staying at home

As reported by Sky News, ‘Footfall in the heart of cities has returned to normal on weekends but is still 25% lower on weekdays than it was before COVID-19, according to the Centre for Cities.

In central London, footfall is only half of what it was before the pandemic, while in Glasgow’s city centre it was 64% and in Manchester’s it was 73%.’

This repositions city centres as more leisure related areas for recreation rather than work, and whilst demand for city centre rental property hasn’t exactly dropped through the floor, it certainly isn’t what it was pre-pandemic.

Rather, there now seems to be much more demand for properties outside of city centres in areas that have good commuting routes but don’t quite sit inside the hustle and bustle of a busy city.

This is good news for investors looking to buy already tenanted properties in these regions as it offers an investment in an area rapidly growing in popularity, price and rents. Yields are only expected to grow as this trend continues, and with COVID-19 numbers holding steady, at least over the winter, there is a wide expectation that people will continue to work from home.

At yieldit we specialise in re-sale investment properties directly from landlords and property investors and have a number of excellent properties in these types of areas that are already earning rental income, so why not take a look through here and get in touch today?

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