City gossip & the London rental market

Relocation agencies dealing with senior banker and financial services employees inform us that they are seeing a shift in the types of employees who are relocating.

Banks seem to be recruiting young, fresh hard working staff who qualify for modest studio and one bed flat allowances, and the very high powered, experienced executives to run the show. As a result, our corporate rental enquiries seem to be focused around the low end studio and one bed properties to let in London and the very high end family houses at around £4K and £5K per week. This has resulted in a slump in the middle market (£500 - £1000 per week) where the relocation market had previously been most active with city workers.

In confirmation of this trend, a source within a major city bank confided to us recently when pushed to reveal the extent of job losses in the City, "If you're on less than £200K or more than £1M you're probably OK - it's the ones in between who are worried".