he charges rent on average London reached a new all-time high of £2,480 per month in the final months of 2022, according to new data from property portal Rightmove.
The data published today covers the fourth quarter of last year (October through December). It shows an annual increase of 15.7 percent for asking London rentsand an increase of 5.8 percent from the previous quarter.
In central London, which includes the capital’s most expensive areas to live, asking rents averaged more than £3,000 a month.
Rightmove reports that there are signs in the early weeks of this year that competition for available housing is starting to ease as more homes become available, but the imbalance between supply and demand remains a huge frustration for renters.
Outside London
Asking rental prices throughout Great Britain also reached a new all-time high (£1,172 per month) after rising 9.7 per cent in a year.
With an increase of 0.9 per cent in the final months of the year, compared to the period between July and September 2022, Britain has seen the smallest quarterly increase in asking rents for two years.
The number of available rental properties was up 13 percent leading up to December compared to a year earlier, while the number of people inquiring about rental properties increased by 7 percent over the same period, according to Rightmove.
The property portal predicts that the average asking rent across Britain for newly available homes will rise by a further five per cent by 2023, unless there is a significant increase in the number of homes to let.
The United Kingdom, Wales and the South West have seen the largest increases in the number of properties available to let, leading to a marginal drop of one per cent in average rents being asked.
Rightmove’s Tim Bannister said: “While intense competition among tenants to find a home has started to ease, it’s still double the level of 2019. Landlords are seeing extremely high levels of tenant requests and are processing dozens of potential tenants for any available home.
“Landlords will have to weigh any rent increases against what tenants can pay in their neighborhood in order to continue to find tenants quickly and avoid periods when their home is vacant because tenants cannot pay the requested rent.
“There appears to be a bit more property choice for tenants compared to last year’s record lows, which should ease some of the fierce competition to secure a home.
“As a result, we forecast that the rate of annual growth will slow nationally to about five percent by the end of the year, although this will still be significantly higher than the 2% average we have seen in the five years before the pandemic. saw. .”
Simon Leigh of Hackney & Leigh estate agents said: “The rental market remains vibrant and the majority of our landlords are still receiving multiple applications for their properties.
“Rentals have remained stable, thanks in part to the cautious stance of landlords when considering rent increases on renewals, who would rather keep good tenants than even a short vacancy or the associated costs.”
James Redington, director of sales and rentals at Douglas & Gordon, said: “We’ve seen the highest rent increases we’ve seen in decades, and we don’t expect that to slow any time soon.”