Antonia Jennings, CEO at Centre for London, comments on the ONS data which shows a fall in London’s population for the first time since 2021: 

“These figures should be a wake-up call – signalling that too many Londoners feel they can no longer build the lives they want in the capital. And the core driver, as ever, is housing. 

Housing is the long-standing, foundational issue we keep coming back to in the capital. For many young Londoners, staying in the city increasingly means living with their parents for far longer than they had hoped. For those in their 30s and 40s looking to put down roots or start a family, London cannot deliver the homes they need at the price point they can afford. The housing market is simply too expensive and moves too slowly, while the rental market offers high costs in return for poor-quality housing and little sense of long-term security. Many Londoners are left with little choice but to look elsewhere for the space, security and stability they need.”

London has long experienced more people moving to the rest of the UK, than moving in from it. What’s different about both the 2021 figures and the latest figures is that the outflow became large enough to outweigh population growth through births and international migration. That should concern anyone who wants London to remain a city where people can build a future. 

The answer isn’t simply in building more homes, although we urgently need to do that. It’s also about matching the homes we have, and the homes we want to build, to the lives Londoners want to lead. Yes, we need to build genuinely affordable family-sized homes, but we also need a housing market that allows people to move through it as their circumstances change. 

It’s disappointing to see proposals for property tax reform fall off the political agenda. London’s housing market is clogged up – housing turnover in London is a third lower than the national average. Our tax system is making that worse, discouraging people from moving, disincentivising older Londoners from moving out of homes that no longer fit their needs, while younger families struggle to find a home at all. 

If we are serious about ensuring London is a liveable city, we need to be much more ambitious about reform of both housing supply and the systems that govern how our homes are used. These population figures show the cost of failing to act.”