How London Lives

Contents

How Londoners Live

Healthy London Living

London’s Pampered Pets

The Rise Of Green Therapy

How London Will Live

How Londoners Live.

Welcome to our How London Lives report.

The capital’s renters and buyers are takinga more thoughtful and holistic approach to what will make them happy in their new home. These are Mindful Movers, and they want to:

Prioritise their health and wellbeing through gyms, swimming pools and great running routes on their doorstep.

There are some ‘must haves’ that will always beimportant for our renters and buyers when lookingfor a home. Our sales and lettings negotiators knowthat the location, type and size of the property havethe biggest impact on our customers’ property choice.We also know that being close to public transport, theoffice and family and friends is always important.

However, as we head towards the end of the decadewe are seeing that above and beyond the obvious asks,what Londoners want is subtly changing once again.

Mindful Movers are at the forefront of a trend whichwill continue into the next decade and beyond.

When it comes to their perfect home, they’re not justprioritising the practical – they’re going back-to-basics,they’re listening to their hearts. They know they canget so much of what they want at the click of a button,whenever and wherever, so what’s on their doorstepis taking on a new meaning to them. For this reasonwe predict Mindful Movers will lead the way inforging deeper links with their local communities andrenewing the face-to-face connections that makeneighbourhoods thrive.

How London Lives looks at how Londoners are buying and renting. The insights are drawn from various Ecorp data sources, coupled with insights from our people as well as external trends.

How London Lives is a snapshot of the Mindful Movers who are shaping an exciting new normal for property

Find the perfect home that works as much for their pets as it does for them, making sure wherever they choose is right for dogs, cats, rabbits or even chickens.

Get some green therapy, be it their own gardens, balconies or courtyards or even being imaginative, bringing the outside in to their new homes.

We know, from more than 37 years of finding Londoners their dream home, that there is nothing ‘set in stone’ when it comes to the capital’s property market. What Londoners want is always changing. Whether it’s the explosion of loft living in the 1990s or the popularity of East London in the late 2000s, our unrivalled knowledge of the London property market means we see these trends before anyone else.We have a huge team of property expertsthe largest network across London – with thousands of properties on our books at any one time. This gives us unparalleledinsight into how Londoners are buying and renting across the city.

Healthy London Living

Whether they are renting or buying, Londoners are now factoring in their health and property choice alongside location, square footage and transport links. Mindful Movers know that property decisions are some of the most important decisions they will make in their life, so it makes perfect sense to make that life the healthiest possible.

Our renters themselves told us they were prepared to pay more for health and fitness features in new developments.

Over a quarter of our renters said they were prepared to pay more for a swimming pool.

Over a third of our renterssaid they were prepared to pay more for a gym.

Nearly a sixth of our renters said they were prepared to pay more for bike storage.

Londoners are eating more healthily and exercising more frequently.In fact, nearly seven out of ten Londoners exercise at least once a week and nearly one-fifth say that they exercise each and every day.

They are sacrificing a weekend lie-in and instead,

joining hundreds of runners every Saturday morning

at one of London’s over 50 parkruns. They are hitting

the pavements and logging their routes on their

Strava apps, with over 3 million runs trackedyear.

And they are generating some serious pedal power

to make cycling London’s favourite mode of rush-hour

transport last year.

Mindful Movers understand how important looking

after their health is to being happy at home.

They are therefore making sure their properties

are right for the active lifestyles they want to lead. Over 50 parkruns across London every weekend.

Over 3 million runstracked in the capital

However, Mindful Movers aren’t just burning the calories on benchpresses, sweating in spinningclasses and tiring themselves out on treadmills like Generation X did in the 1990s. These Londoners are looking beyond the gym and want to find a home which gives them access to all the fitness options that the capital has to offer.

London’s Pampered Pets

A quarter of Londonerswho rent a property through

Ecorp said they were preparedto pay more for a petfriendly property

88 percentsay that pet ownership improves

their overall quality of life

It is perhaps no surprise then that London’s Mindful Movers are making sure their dream home is perfect for both them and their pets, whether they are cats, dogs, rabbits or chickens.

In fact, over a quarter of Londoners who rent a property through Ecorp said they were prepared to pay more for a pet-friendly property.

According to our expert sta�, this trend appears to be on the increase as well. Nearly two-thirds of our lettings negotiators say that the opportunity to keep a pet is important for renters when choosing a property.And nearly eight out of ten of our lettings negotiators said that renters are increasingly looking for tenancy agreements with pet-friendly paragraphs – a clause with claws!

As a nation of pet lovers, we all know there is nothing guaranteed to improve your mood quite like spending time with your favouritefurry or feathered friends. Nine out of ten pet owners in the UK say that owning a pet makes them feel happy and 88 percent feel that petownership improves their overall quality of life.

Our staff rise to the challengeof finding the perfect home forLondoners and their pets, no matter how big the challenge. They have told us…

A couple recently came to us saying they needed to rent a property with a pond in the garden for their ducks. It was a challenge, but we found one for them!

Pets are really important to ourcustomers. I once helped someonefind a property which had to havea bedroom just for their cats.

More than once I have had peoplebase their property searches ontheir pets. I’ve even had renterswho loved their dog so muchthat they chose their flat basedon how close it was to their dog’sfavourite parks.

I had a couple of renters recently who loved keeping hens. They had built them a lovely coop and gave the spare eggs to friends. We managed to find them a property with a garden which was perfect.

And the importance of pets to Londoners isn’t just limited to where they are choosing to live. Over half a million people are now signed up to apps like Borrow My Doggy, giving them the chance to walk other people’s dogs. Hundreds of sausage dog enthusiasts got together last year to go for a waddle round London. And now the capital is home to two purr-fect cat cafes, where you can sip tea while enjoying the company of feline friends.Mindful Movers know the wide-ranging benefits of having a pet and are looking to prioritise this when they are carrying out their property search.

The RiseOf GreenTherapy

Mindful Movers want outdoor space and are willing

to pay for it; 40 percent of Ecorp’s renters said

they were prepared to pay more for a roof terrace or

communal outdoor space. And one-sixth of Ecorp’s

renters even said they were prepared to pay more for

a barbecue area, showing there’s more to gardens than

green lawns; Londoners want a modern take on urban

space when finding their dream home.

This love for outdoor space may explain why nearly a

third of homeowners with a garden say that they feel

competitive about it looking good. For Mindful Movers,

there is pride to be had in designing and tending to

modern gardens across the capital.

40 percent of Ecorp’s renterssaid they were prepared to pay more for a roof terrace orcommunal outdoor space.

“Nowadays Mindful Movers areproving you don’t need to leavethe capital to enjoy the benefitsof the outdoors.”

For the Baby Boomer generation,realising their dream meant sellingtheir homes in the capital and livingthe good life in the countryside.But nowadays Mindful Movers are proving you don’t need to leave the capital to enjoy the benefits of the outdoors.

Mindful Movers are an imaginative group. If they findthe property that is right for them and it doesn’t havea garden, they think outside the box and bring theoutside in.

Mindful Movers are an imaginative group. They think outside

the box and bring the outside in.

Mindful Movers are using plants to personalise their homes, whether they are buying or renting. Perhaps this explains why house-plant sales have increased 20 percent compared to last year. This growing green obsession is evident on the high street as well, with Ikea exhibiting house-plants at the Chelsea Flower Show for the first time ever, Topshop now selling plants and online house-plant stores like Patch growing in popularity.

Mindful Movers know a big garden isn’t the only way to enjoy the great outdoors. Instead, when they are looking for theirdream home, they are using all the resources at their disposal to create perfect green spaces both outside and in.

When designing their gardens this group is opting for naturalfeatures, creating organic utopias out of real grass, flowers andvegetable patches. To keep their oasis in the city as natural aspossible, they’re even ditching manmade features like chimeneas, fire pits and garden art.

How LondonWill Live

However, Mindful Movers’ idea of convenience ischanging. This group know that they can increasinglyget access to whatever they want through their laptops,phones and TV screens.

They therefore won’t need to go to local restaurantswhen they can buy from those restaurants throughtheir smartphones and eat on their sofa. They don’tnecessarily need great bars on their doorstep whenthey can get home from a night out using a ride-hailingapp. And they don’t need to be within walking distanceof a cinema when they can choose from the latestblockbusters through their streaming services.

Our own staff think this tech trend will continue, withover two-thirds of our sales negotiators saying thatbuyers will want a fully integrated home with techand voice assistants by 2030 and over two-fifths of ourlettings negotiators even believing that renters willwant a robot cleaner in the future!

But we already know that what the younger generationof Londoners want is changing.

Over half (53 percent) of millennials would ratherspend money on experiences instead of possessions(23 percent). The younger generation are volunteeringmore than their older peers and nearly two-thirdswant to connect with a social issue or cause. Wepredict Mindful Movers will prioritise face-to face connections and meaningful links with theirneighbourhoods in the future.

And to connect and meet in person, they will needsomething different when looking for a property.They will want communal spaces, ready-madecommunity groups and the chance to work remotelyalongside other residents.

We are already starting to see this in several new developments across London. In Queenshurst, a stunning new development in South West London, renters and buyers will have access to shared facilities like a cinema, meeting rooms and a Wi-Fi lounge toconnect with other residents. At Goodluck Hope, a community-focused development in East London all residents can use a suite of great facilities with their neighbours, including a gym, cinema and swimming pool.

These are just two examples of what is quickly becoming the norm for new developments springing up across the capital: the concept of community creation for times queezed Londoners.

Over the last couple of decades London’s buyers and renters have prioritised living near great restaurants, a local cinema andother amenities when they are choosing a property. For our buyers and renters, convenience was key. And convenience meant having everything on your doorstep.

How London Lives shows how no one knows the Londonproperty market quite like ECORP. It’s our unparalleledinsight into how Londoners are buying and rentingacross the city which means we can always serve ourcustomers better.If you would like more information on our expertise,network or properties please don’t hesitate to get intouch with us.

Who to contact at E CORP:

The findings of the How London Lives report are drawnfrom various E CORP data sources, coupled with insightsfrom our people as well as external trends.

How we have compiled this report