London rents are changing in odd ways. I'm moving into a 2 bed BTR flat with my cousin in Lewisham Station, and we've got a month of free rent and knocked of £25 pcm. Meanwhile, my current one bed has gone on the market for more than I'm currently paying for it.

Perhaps my experience isn't typical. But to me it suggests that people are desperate to move out of houseshares with strangers and into one beds by themselves or with their partners. I had two viewings from couples a few days after my current flat went on the market.

Problem is, London's housing stock is mainly big old suburban houses from decades ago when family structures were very different - there's a deep shortage of one-beds. Plus, the one-beds that are built today are often too big for single people to afford https://www.centreforcities.org/blog/minimum-space-standards-housing-crisis/

It's politically popular to talk about building new family homes, and London needs green belt release to do so. But the capital also needs to accept more demolition and redevelopment of existing stock to address its growing shortage of small one-beds.

One more thing - I suspect people's desire to find one-beds and the dignity and privacy they provide, even in other parts of the country, is a bigger factor behind people leaving London than Covid somehow causing "the end of the city".

If we really want to take any lessons on how to change our built environment to prepare for future pandemics, we don't need more of the generic "green space" beloved by activists but fewer dwellings containing multiple households, which requires more one-beds to decant sharers.