Earlier this year Centre for London launched their excellent ‘Hollowing Out London’ report. The headline: Families are being pushed to the outer edges and more deprived areas in the city.
The evidence:
- The number of households in London with children has increased from 873k in 2001 (29% of HHs), to 1.1m in 2021 (31% of HHs)
- The number is shrinking in Inner London, and increasing in Outer London.
We know from other London Sport projects that:
- ‘Families’ are getting smaller (i.e. Households containing children are containing fewer children).
- The overall number of children and young people in London is projected to fall by 10% from 2025 to 2035.
- In Q2 2025, the average property price in London was £565k (twice the England average). It was £660k in Inner London.
- Private renting has also become increasingly unaffordable. The London average is 58% higher than the England average, and would account for around 42% of income.
- Access to social housing has become increasingly constrained
On the movement of children, Centre for London go on to comment that “families with dependent children have become increasingly concentrated in London’s more deprived neighbourhoods over the last twenty years [33% of households in the most deprived decile had dependent children in 2001, and 37% in 2021].
“…rising unaffordability is the driving force behind these changes in where families live in London.”
The report is an example of why we should understand London as a combination of many individual places – each with unique characteristics, trends and challenges.