The competitive environment for landlords means that rents fell again in the first 3 months of 2009, by 7.4%, and are now 18.2% below their March 2008 peak, and 3.6% below the previous market peak in September 2001, states the latest London residential property market review by estate agent Knight Frank.

The current review takes a closer look at the corporate market lettings:

- In terms of the types of properties in demand from corporate tenants, the general rules remain unchanged – neutral properties, wooden floors rather than carpets, open plan living, close to good travel hubs, and, for the higher price brackets, porterage and concierge services.

- While there is a bias towards new-build properties from most clients – US and European tenants often prefer a traditional house or flat for the “London experience”.

- What has changed through the recession has been the demand from corporate tenants for the structure of tenancies. There is a desire to achieve flexibility and certainty – with six month break clauses required alongside clauses providing the tenant with an option to renew for a second and even third year.

Download Knight Frank’s London Residential Review Summer 2009.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 20th, 2009 at 12:54 pm and is filed under Letting Agents, Statistics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.