CoronaVirus has had an unprecedented impact on the very fabric of society. Tens of thousands of people have been impacted on the job front. Disruption in international travel, tourism has hit restaurants, hotels and the whole hospitality industry. Jobs are being lost. The High Street retail shops reeling under online competition will suffer further slump as the purchasing power of people goes down. The rent and rates will make it impossible for many to survive. There is a likelihood of deserted High Streets with empty buildings. Property prices could see a huge drop. The buy to let market could experience negative equity. This will be a big blow to a huge number of people. It will be very difficult to shed the property portfolio as the market experiences a collapse.
An unexpected result of the virus is that working from home has become a norm. According to Kevin Ellis, chairman of PwC, which has a staff of 22,000, the shift of working from home has bashed away presenteesim for ever. If there were any doubts of its efficacy they have been removed by the arrival of Zoom and other
apps. It is no longer necessary to travel for meetings within the country or abroad. This will mean a massive change for the City. Companies will downsize and in many cases do away with office space. The landlords of these properties will face huge challenges. We may see huge skyscrapers empty. As the flow of commuters to the city slows down the hundreds of thousands of businesses depending on them will find it difficult to survive. The City could turn into a ghost town. Post virus the tourist industry may revive but it will be seasonal and not enough to keep businesses afloat. One possibility would be to turn the office space into flats. The once unthinkable living accommodation in prime London locations could be available at a fraction of the price. If this happens then the City will see a revival and businesses will make a comeback on hugely reduced rent and rates.
Railways could also be severely impacted due to the work from home phenomenon. It has dawned on people that they could be saving as much as £2000 a year on train fares. Trains as well the Underground System will run half empty. Their financial liability will become an issue jeopardising a huge number of jobs. Fares will have to come down to encourage more people to travel. The whole HS2 project which is a high speed link connecting London to Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds could fail with the work from home and Zoom arrival. Estimated to cost £106 billion it could turn out to be an expensive initiative with trains running empty. London transport buses are running empty too and it may not be long before routes are cut and jobs lost.
The whole of Aviation industry, Universities, Airports, Education, Health Care all could be impacted due to the new working methods. It could be the harbinger of a more equal economic order in the long run.
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