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A survey of over 500 business leaders from the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has highlighted the striking impacts of housing costs on the UK’s ability to recruit and retain talent, with the price of home ownership in the capital impacting firms’ hiring plans and risking the Chancellor’s UK-wide growth vision.
In LCCI’s Business and Youth Employment Surveys with YouGov, 77% of large London firms (those with 250+ employees) say that housing costs are damaging recruitment and retention. These findings come alongside a pessimistic outlook for young Londoners, with less than half (45%) of 24–35-year-olds in the capital expecting to be able to afford a suitable property in the next decade. Such low affordability means that while 82% of young Londoners say career opportunities are better in the capital, only 60% see their long-term future in London
Many young professionals are instead seeking work opportunities abroad. According to ONS data, three-quarters of the 246,000 British nationals that left the UK in 2025 were under the age of 25, with the number of departing 25-34-year-olds growing steadily each year.[1]
This growing gap between Britons leaving and returning is depriving the country of valuable taxpayers who fund public services across the country, with London and the South East paying 45% of the UK’s income tax bill.[2]
Businesses are responding with urgent calls to lower barriers to home ownership and offer breathing space for young people trying to get on the housing ladder. LCCI has voiced these concerns in its Budget submission to the Chancellor, calling for a raft of innovative and low-cost policy measures:
Karim Fatehi OBE, Chief Executive of the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry said:“Skills, access to home ownership and ensuring firms can grow must all be seen as closely linked issues if we are to achieve UK-wide growth, and these findings are a clear testament to that. Talented young people from across the globe have long aspired to live and work in London, but the challenge of owning a home here is increasingly threatening that attraction and harming businesses’ ability to recruit. With international rivals snapping at the capital’s heels, hypermobile young professionals are at serious risk of departing overseas, taking skills and the tax they pay with them.
“Further planning reforms to reduce the cost and bureaucracy of the planning system are positive steps, but we need to be bolder if we want young people to have the same opportunity as previous generations to buy a home of their own. We know London has a significant group of young workers who earn good salaries and have rented privately for many years, but cannot save anywhere near the average £140,000 deposit required to buy a house in the capital. The solution is a combination of getting London building by making development viable again, and reforming the mortgage system to reflect the property market as it exists today, not as it did forty years ago. “If London cannot be a city where high-quality talent can build a career and eventually buy a home or start a family, we will lose out to other cities and countries around the world, making the Government’s own UK-wide growth mission harder to achieve.”
ENDS
Notes for editors
About the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI)
LCCI is London’s hub for the business community with a 12,000 strong business network of SMEs and microbusinesses, major corporations and cultural and educational institutions. Founded in 1881 to represent London businesses and promote international trade, we support our members to drive growth and prosperity across the UK and internationally.LCCI’s full Budget 2026 Submission can be found here.
About the LCCI Business and Youth Employment Surveys
For media inquiries, please contact: LCCI Press OfficeE: [email protected]T: +44 (0)20 7203 1897M: +44 (0) 7767 110632
[1] The latest ONS data shows that 246,000 British nationals left the UK in YE Dec 2025, double the number that returned, with three quarters of those leaving being under the age of 35. Source.[2] London and the South East contributed 45% of the UK’s total income tax bill of £240.7 billion in 2022/23, according to analysis of HMRC figures by accountancy firm UHY Hacker Young in Feb 2026. Source.
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