There was rather a lot of fallout and negativity following the Brexit result. Some may argue that this was warranted given the economic uncertainty that came about as a result of the vote, as well as that fact that interest rates were cut to an all-time-low by the Bank of England.
On the up side, it seems you might be in luck if you are a startup company looking to relocate to the UK’s capital. For the past two years, London has topped the list of the most expensive cities to live and work in. However, the tide appears to be turning, with real estate firm Savills stating that London no longer tops the list.
Using costs from twelve major cities across the world, Savills’ Live-Work Index details the housing and office rental costs for teams in the financial sector and creative industries; teams which are “representative of startup businesses”.
When taking annual live-work costs (per person) into account, the Savill index (from July 2016) ranks London at third place. This places the UK’s capital city behind New York and Hong Kong.
The index showed that the total costs for one employee in London, across a period of one year, had decreased by 11% to $100,141, between December 2015 and July 2016. In New York, residential and commercial rental prices increased by 2%, pushing it up above London in the July rankings, in comparison to where it ranked in December 2015.
So, what has changed?
Well, the view from Savills is that Brexit caused this 11% decrease to London’s live-work costs. Even though the capital’s property market was already slowing down before Brexit, the company states that Britain’s decision to leave the European Union has made another dent and has therefore also: “made London very much more competitive on the world stage.”