Central London rent rises and property buyers suggest our Covid ‘holiday’ may be short-lived

After a Covid-induced year off, the return from a proper summer holiday has hit with even more of a wallop.

Passwords, colleagues’ names, how to write an email — even after only two weeks I’m needing help getting back in the swing of “real life”.

I’m not the only one struggling with the grand return, but for many it’s been much more than a fortnight away from the physical office. And, in the tradition of the best holidays, over the past year and a half many WFH-ers have taken a look at their normal existence with fresh eyes and thought: “I don’t want to go back.”

So much has been written about the great city exodus and home-buyers and renters’ new priorities, with proximity to a Tube toppled from the No 1 spot.

Far-flung suburbs most people had never heard of have seen a new demographic fighting to buy hotly contested properties.

But, with the inevitability of a Saturday villa changeover, we’re being nudged back to business as usual.

Public transport use has surged in the past week as workers don their hard trousers and neglected smart shoes and sniff Proustian wafts of hungover commuter coffee breath, while central London rental enquiries are creeping back up.

I’m up for it. I’m interested to see how many of those who made a big move this year realise they are not.

Will they do a full Shirley Valentine and embrace an entirely new life in Wembley or Wales? Or will it be our workplaces, transport and high streets that have to adapt to employees who want to be free — but not that free?

There’s appeal in the people power of the latter option. Word is that smart money is buying in central London while it’s cheap with a view to future growth. I fear our Utopian daydream might be short-lived.