London is the worst city for WFH tenants

The ability to work from home has become a driving factor for renters around the world. But the latest research by international rental platform, Spotahome, has found that London presents the toughest challenge for tenants when it comes to finding a WFH suitable rental property.

Spotahome analysed data on the rental market across 14 major European cities looking at which was home to the highest proportion of stock with a space suitable to work from home. 

The bad news for London’s tenants is that the capital rank with the lowest level of WFH rental properties. Just 24% of rental homes currently listed on the market came fit with a suitable working space. 

Paris and Dublin also ranked as some of the worst cities for tenants looking to work from home, with just 29% and 37% of respective stock listed on the market specifically providing a space to work. 

So where does the working from home trend have the best legs in the European rental market?

Valencia in Spain currently ranks as the capital for WFH rental homes. A huge 71% of rental stock in the city comes fit with a suitable space to work from, with Milan (65%), Rome (61%) and Berlin (60%) seeing similar levels of WFH rental properties. 

In fact, Spain and Italy are arguably the best nations where working from home in the rental market is concerned, with Madrid and Florence also ranking high with 54% of rental market stock listed with a suitable area to work from. 

Spotahome Head of Data and Analytics, Jorge Alonso, commented:

“Working from home is certainly the new normal at present and while it remains unclear as to whether this will be the case when normality returns, some form of remote working is likely to remain.

However, doing so requires a proper space in which to do so and the figures show that when it comes to suitable rental stock, London is lagging behind other major European cities. 

This presents London landlords with a great opportunity to stand out from the crowd by presenting a property with a great workspace, particularly in a time where tenant demand has fallen bringing rents with it.”