hts platform, has found that despite the cost of mortgages and rent skyrocketing in the capital, Londoners don’t plan to make cutbacks on their lifestyle forever and expect to increase their spending over the next six months.
61% of Londoners report their rent or mortgage payments have gone up in the past year, with almost a third stating that their payments have risen by 40% or more. 55% are expecting these costs to increase further over the year or next.
Almost half of Londoners’ total monthly income is now spent on paying their mortgage or rent (44% on average), with 35% of Londoners reporting it now accounts for 60% of their salary. Unsurprisingly, this is having a real impact on their finances, including having less disposable income (65%) and no savings (56%) by the end of the month.
Lifestyle makes a comeback
Despite the rising costs of housing and its impact on Londoners’ financial situation, they don’t plan to cut back on their lifestyle forever.
When asked if they anticipate their spending to change over the coming six months compared to the first half of 2023, Londoners plan to increase their spending on dining out and takeaways (56%), travel and holidays (53%), TV streaming services (50%) and fashion (47%).
Mark Ursell, CEO of QuMind comments: “Despite the difficult economic situation, it will be encouraging to the retail and hospitality sectors to see that more than half of Londoners plan to increase their spending compared to the first half of this year. As we approach the holiday season, they need to get a clear understanding of what consumers actually want to spend their hard-earned cash on and respond with offerings that truly reflect their wants and needs.”
Optimism increases
The increased appetite to spend may reflect Londoners’ optimism towards the current economic climate. Compared to a national average of 29%, 71% of Londoners are confident in the Government’s response to the recession – the highest of any region by a significant measure, with the second highest region being the West Midlands at just 39%.
The spending may also correspond with the overall sentiment shift revealed by the QuMind Sentiment Index, where since October 2022 the general feeling of the nation has increased from -35 to -14. So, while the overall sentiment is still negative, the nation is starting to feel more positive.
The QuMind Sentiment Index is a proprietary analysis approach that takes a quarterly temperature check of how Brits are feeling about the current economic and political situation in the UK. It not only measures the sentiment, but the intensity to which respondents are feeling it. The scale runs from “-100” for high-intensity negative responses through to “+100” for high-intensity positive.
