Brexit hits rental market as number of EU nationals plummets

Brexit hits rental market as number of EU nationals plummets


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An analysis of the rental market in England has revealed a dramatic drop in the number of EU nationals taking up tenancies.

The proportion of EU tenants living in England has decreased since 2017 – so from just after the EU Referendum – as the demographics changed

PropTech platform Goodlord has analysed an England-wide sample of 300,000 rental tenancy agreements signed between January 2017 and November 2020.   

From January 2017 to November 2020 the proportion of EU renters in England fell from 20 per cent to 14 per cent of all tenants.

International tenants from non-EU countries are also down, from 13 per cent to 11 per cent. 

As a result, the proportion of renters with UK citizenship rose from 66 to 74 per cent.

By 2019, only 16 per cent of all renters in England were from the EU. UK nationals accounted for 71 per cent of tenants and those from non-EU countries 12 per cent.

By the end of 2020, the proportion of EU tenants had fallen a further two per cent to 14; International residents dropped one per cent to 11 per cent of the total.

The biggest impact has been on London.

During 2017, the average proportion of London tenants originally from EU countries stood at 29 per cent. In 2020, EU tenants accounted for just 22 per cent of London residents.

Tom Mundy, chief operating officer of Goodlord, comments: “There was no mass exodus of EU citizens following the Brexit vote. Instead, we’ve seen a steady but marked decrease in the number of people from the EU moving to England over the last four years. 

“This trend has borne out across the whole of England, but particularly so in London, which had a higher number of EU tenants to start with. We saw a bump in numbers in 2018 just ahead of the two-year deadline, as those wishing to make England their home took what might have been their last chance. 

“But, since then, each passing month has seen the number of people from Europe signing rental agreements steadily decline.”

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