Yahoo Finance London rents reach record high of £2,631
It has never been so expensive to rent in the capital, with London rents hitting a new record high of £2,631 per month.
The figures for the last three months of the year are a small increase from the previous quarter but property site Rightmove is predicting London rents to jump 3% this year.
Outside of London, the average advertised rent for new properties coming onto on the rental market also hit a new record of £1,280 per calendar month. Rightmove expects rents outside the capital to surge by 5% in 2024.
This is the 16th consecutive record in newly advertised rental prices as the property market is still suffering from a lack of available homes to supply increasing demand.
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The figures suggest there has been some improvement, with tenant demand slowing down.
The number of tenants sending enquiries to letting agents to move is 13% lower than the same period last year. At the same time, the number of new rental properties coming onto the market is 7% higher than last year.
That means the average number of enquiries agents are receiving for every available rental property is currently 11.
“The trend of rent growth gradually slowing continues, with an improvement in the supply and demand of rental properties having a big contribution to that”, Rightmove’s director of property science Tim Bannister said.
“We can’t keep seeing double digit rent rises every year as tenant affordability simply cannot keep up, and 2024 is the year we think there will be a much smaller increase in advertised rents of 5% outside of London, and 3% in the capital."
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The data also revealed that nearly a quarter (23%) of rental properties have seen a reduction in advertised rent by the landlord, markedly up from the 16% at this time last year, suggesting the initial advertised rental price in some areas was too high to secure a tenant.
“The market is still really busy, and the high number of applicants per property is being exacerbated by some landlords leaving the market. Prices appear to be levelling out now as more choice becomes available, with tenants becoming more price sensitive, or just reaching the maximum of what they can afford to pay,” Hayley Brinn, director at The Total Letting Service, said.
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