Welcome to the third edition of The London Intelligence, a quarterly review of demographic, housing, transport, economic and quality of life data. This issue shows that London's economy is sustaining slow growth.
The London Intelligence tells London’s story through data, identifying the changes taking place in the capital under five major themes:
Demography
The number of foreign nationals registering for a National Insurance Number to work in London has seen a significant drop. The sharpest fall has been among EU nationals. This is particularly concerning to the capital’s service industries which are powered by migrant talent.
Rental market
2016 was the first year that there were more renters in London than homeowners. There are now more than a million private renting households in the capital. Rental prices are cooling and fell by 0.8 per cent in the last three months of 2017, compared to 2016.
Society
A Notifiable Offence is any offence where police must inform the Home Office by completing a crime report form. London saw a 13 per cent rise in TNOs in November 2017 compared to the same month in 2016. Some of this increase is due to better recording, as well as more victims coming forward in areas where reporting has been traditionally low.
Housing
House prices in London fell by 4.1 per cent in the year to November 2017. This was the largest fall since August 2009. The rest of England and Wales also experienced a slowdown, although not to the same extent – prices rose by 0.9 per cent over the year to November.
Environment
Small particulates are some of the most damaging to human health and the majority come from car transport. After the unusually high peak of PM2.5 levels during the early months of 2017, more recent figures for the end of the year suggested they had dropped to around the World Health Organisation (WHO) and EU limits.
Economy
Demand for offices grew by 19 per cent in Q4 of 2017, compared to the 10 year quarterly average. Analysts predict that this demand will continue to rise in 2018, particularly in the City, where financial and insurance firms are taking on more space despite Brexit uncertainty.
