Guides

Five lifestyle trends for 2024 that Leeds is already ahead of the curve on

In partnership with The Junction Leeds.

Sophie Smith - 12th February 2024

We're well into 2024 now.

That means plenty of people have already turned their backs on New Year's resolutions, got through Dry January or Veganuary and slipped back into everyday life.

Okay, maybe we're just speaking for ourselves, but these first few months of the year are typically that time where we look at our plans for the year as a whole: making plans to try new hobbies, actually switch our laptops off at 5pm to find a proper work-life balance, and probably spending far too much time looking at new apartments.

If one of your plans for 2024 is to move in or around Leeds, we've got you covered with some handy consideration points for the new year that make moving easier than ever with some pretty cool incentives to look forward to, (but more on that later).

We've teamed up with The Junction Leeds to explore how living in the brand new neighbourhood might just have all the answers we've been looking for to kick off the new year, and to put ourselves first in 2024.

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Build To Rent communities combines social and living spaces for the best of both worlds - and the concept is growing in popularity

The rental market has boomed over the last few years. BTR News predicted back in 2020 that by the end of 2023, the UK would have seen a 22% increase in renters moving into private rental spaces, with a focus on communities and combating loneliness at the heart of many complexes.

The predictions were made nine months after the beginning of those months indoors at the beginning of the Covid 19 pandemic - and whilst the world has moved on in one sense, it changed priorities for a lot of us: and given the choice of being surrounded by like minded people in a community has got many of us still continuing to search for spaces that continue to bring people together, even some years on.

The appeal with Build To Rent properties is easy to see: it's not just a rental you're paying for, but often an entire lifestyle, with an entire community to go with it.

Take The Junction Leeds for example: there's 665 apartments, with options to live in a one, two or three bedroom unit - and although the living quarters are beautiful, they only form a small part of The Junction's neighbourhood.

In the cold winter months, residents can cosy up in the resident's lounge with a big cup of coffee from the free-to-use machine in the kitchen and spend the summer playing on the giant sports courts.

a bed at The Junction. — Images: The Hoot Leeds

Finding flexible ways to work that don't always involve being at the office

HAYS UK found that 39% of workers are still operating on a hybrid working model - and you only have to look around any given coffee shop in Leeds to spot the laptops belonging to the thousands of workers that are still spending time away from the traditional office setting.

Over at The Junction, there's a dedicated co-working space within the neighbourhood itself. Conveniently located next to the Resident's Lounge with a kitchen and soundproof meeting rooms, there's cosy seats and sofas in abundance to check your emails or get those last tasks of the day complete.

This isn't the same as your usual work-from-home setup, and by leaving your apartment and physically working in another space, you're still able to have that 'switch off' moment at the end of the day that you'd get from the office or working in the city, but all the creature comforts of being just moments from your own home.

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New hobbies, new sports

2024 is the year of the Euros, Olympics and Paralympics - and we all know that after watching a few hours on the TV we convince ourselves, it can't be that hard, right?

Combined with the fact that 15% - 19% of people want to start a new hobby in 2024, and a whopping 56% of us want to get out and exercise more, according to Ramsey Health and The Drum, this year is setting itself up to be a big'un for getting out and about more and learning a new sport.

2024 is the year that The Junction gets its very own gym space, but there's also ample opportunity to try out a new sport on the multi-use sports pitch like tennis or football, or get moving at one of the resident-exclusive events: think guided mindfulness, yoga and more.

person playing table tennis. — Images: The Junction Leeds

If this is the year of staying in - make it somewhere cosy

This said, the weather outside doesn't exactly make all this running about on the pitch quite so appealing just yet and apparently, one-in-five of us are already spending more time finding new hobbies indoors rather than heading out to cinemas and restaurants.

So, with more time spent in your own four walls, it feels even more important to make sure you're comfortable in your own abode.

At The Junction, you have the option of taking your property furnished or unfurnished - but regardless of what you choose, all new tenants are given a £200 John Lewis voucher to help towards the cost when signing a 12 month tenancy.

living room with sofa and TV. — Images: The Hoot Leeds

Room for me, and my dog

Pet ownership has hit an all time high. From 2019-2022, the number of households that owned a cat, dog, or another furry companion shot up from 40% to 62%, according to Statista.

And naturally as members of the family, our pets need as much love and attention in our homes as they do anywhere else.

At The Junction, four-legged friends are not only welcomed inside your own home, but in all communal areas - inside and out, from top to bottom. There's plenty of greenery to take your dog for a short morning walk or head down the canal for an afternoon stroll in the sunshine.