Revealed: The London Boroughs that changed the MOST during COVID-19

by London-TV in Business

A new report by Dojo reveals which London boroughs have seen the biggest movement, growth and decline during the Covid-19 pandemic.

With a high number of businesses embracing home-working and reducing the number of days required in the office post-pandemic, many city workers are willing to move out of London to live further away from their place of work and relocate to neighbouring towns.

New research by card payment provider, Dojo, has analysed London boroughs to reveal which have prospered the most from January 2020 to March 2021. To investigate this, Dojo gathered data on the following 5 economic and social indicators of each location:

  • Property market ?  – The change in property prices and number of sales in the area

  • Job vacancies ? – The number of job openings in the area

  • Salaries ? – The average wage of employees

  • Footfall ? – The transit station, workplace and residential movement detected on Google Maps

Each data point was then scored and compared to the previous year to discover the total percentage increase in growth for London boroughs.

RANKED: The London boroughs with the biggest GROWTH during the pandemic

Some borough’s economies and property markets fared better than others during the pandemic – with Havering leading the way.

Ranking Name Population       Total % Change         (Property, Job and Footfall data combined)
1 Havering 259,552 4.74%
2 Worthing 110,570 4.62%
3 Lambeth 326,034 -15.01%
4 Kingston upon Thames 177,507 -17.51%
5 Bromley 332,336 -20.59%
6 Croydon 386,710 -21.54%
7 Camden 270,029 -22.34%
8 Richmond upon Thames 198,019 -22.62%
9 Barnet 395,869 -22.80%
10 Enfield 333,794 -25.92%
11 Hounslow 271,523 -26.18%
12 Redbridge 305,222 -26.19%
13 Greenwich 287,942 -29.14%
14 Wandsworth 329,677 -29.19%
15 Hammersmith and Fulham 185,143 -30.27%
16 Bexley 248,287 -30.32%
17 Southwark 318,830 -30.34%
18 Lewisham 305,842 -31.19%
19 Barking and Dagenham 212,906 -31.49%
20 Newham 353,134 -33.32%
21 Islington 242,467 -34.87%
22 Ealing 341,806 -35.07%
23 Merton 206,548 -35.22%
24 Waltham Forest 276,983 -39.09%
25 Hillingdon 306,870 -39.81%
26 Kensington and Chelsea 156,129 -42.65%
27 Sutton 206,349 -42.99%
28 Westminster 261,317 -44.35%
29 Hackney 281,120 -45.66%
Havering and Worthing were the ONLY boroughs that witnessed a positive growth
London’s outer boroughs can often provide more affordable housing than the central regions of the city, something that definitely helped Havering secure lockdown growth. Even though the average house price increased from the previous year by 7.40% to £387,743, it’s drastically cheaper than London’s average of £501,000. This helped contribute to its overall growth of 4.74% during the pandemic – which was the highest out of all the boroughs.
Worthing was the only other borough that recorded positive growth during the pandemic at 4.62%. The average property price increase by 8.96% from £277,591.25 in 2020 to £302,476.70 in 2021. Property sales also increased by 24.29% since 2020. The property market wasn’t the only growth in the borough. Job vacancies increased by 58.88% despite the pandemic, and the average salary increased by 11.09%.
The London borough of Hackney, however, didn’t see growth like some of the other places on our list. The trendy East London area saw a 45.66% decrease which was the largest decline recorded. The borough was hit hard by a large decrease in footfall – perhaps as it’s an area known for its great nightlight, bars, and hospitality scene. Property sales also took a hit in Hackney, decreasing by -40.80% compared to the previous year.
Just behind Hackney on the leaderboard is Westminster – the political centre of the country, seeing a 44.35% decrease in growth. Property prices actually dipped from £1,008,593 to £956,658 from January 2020 to January 2021. And property sales also dropped by -34.57%, from 188 to 123.