Work in London? It’s cheaper to live in Spain and commute

In what was not the most scientific of studies admittedly, a British man who lives and works in the city of London has calculated that it would be cheaper for him to live in central Barcelona and fly to his job rather than live in the British capital.

Sam Cookney, a 30-year-old social media manager, worked out that he would save €400 per month if he rented a three-bedroom apartment in Barcelona’s plush Les Corts district and flew four times a week to his office and back, than if he rented a place in the (admittedly expensive) neighbourhood of West Hampstead…

Calculating the cost of the flights from Barcelona to London Gatwick, all transfer travel costs and taxes, Cookney figured that he may be better off living in the Catalan city rather than London. And he was right – an apartment in Les Corts (more spacious than anything he could afford in London) would cost him around €680 per month, compared to a two-bedroom flat in West Hampstead, where the going rate is €1,979 per month.

“I feel like it’s reaching a tipping point;” Cookney wrote on his blog. “I’ve been discussing with friends this week and several of us have said that we’re going to have to consider leaving London. The sums just don’t add up.”

Although Cookney hasn’t actually gone through with his scheme, his blog did open a can of worms. Largely about the extortionate cost of living in London, but also around a future world where careers are not rooted to one place, and people can live in one city and ‘work’ in another.

Such a future could serve Spain well, and vice-versa. After all, who wouldn’t want to spend their working days with their laptop around a Costa del Sol swimming pool rather than sat at a stuffy desk overlooking a greyish-brown River Thames being lashed with driving rain?

That’s the future, and with Spain boasting one of the finest climates and property portfolios around – not to mention competitive prices whether buying or renting – the Costa del Sol could well become the new commuter belt for London’s upwardly mobile set.