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Rents in London have dropped for the second consecutive quarter (Q1 and Q2 2024) new data from flatshare site SpareRoom reveals.
The biggest drops in the capital were seen in SW14Mortlake (down 9%), W8 Holland Park and NW5 Kentish Town (-7% respectively). Although London rents are up overall year-on-year (1%) the past six months has shown the start of a downward curve for the capital.
Between Q2 2021 and Q2 2024 rents rose on average by just under a third (29%) across the UK from £576 (Q2 2021) to £740 (Q2 2024).
Meanwhile, UK rents as a whole were up 5% year-on-year in Q2, remaining at the same level as Q1, with Kingston upon Thames (£898) taking first place for the most expensive town to rent, followed by Twickenham (£889) and Reigate (£845).
Warrington (15%) saw the biggest jump in rental prices, followed by Bolton (14%) and Southend on sea (13%) over the last 12 months.
Matt Hutchinson, director at SpareRoom, comments: “As supply has risen over the past couple of years and demand has fallen from the 2022 record peak, we’re starting to see the market slowly rebalance.
“However, although this is a welcome sign, the extent to which rents have risen in the past three years is shocking and there’s still a long, long way to go.
“The cost of living and chronic housing shortage will have been on voters’ minds last week. The new government is already making it clear that housing is on the agenda from day one, so hopefully the result will be a more coherent housing policy that focuses on building more homes and also making better use of existing ones.
“Despite average rents in London dropping for consecutive quarters, they’re still way beyond being affordable by any reasonable standard.”
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Not surprised , I personally hate London and I've lived there all my life
I used to live and work in London when I was young. It was a different world to the rest of the country. That difference has got larger over the years and now you could not pay me enough to live there.😉
I suspect demand has decreased with tenants working from home so they no longer have to liv In London.
Rents will always be determined by the market so rent control not needed.
Clearly rent control isn’t needed nor does it work.
However, that doesn’t mean it won’t happen! Labour will find a way of bringing it in by the back door. My guess is ‘rent regulation’ will be devolved to LA’s with ‘Guidance’ from Gov.
I have a flat in London. Last year I put the rent up 12%, this year 10% and I am making less money. This is due to the explosive increase in mortgage rates, huge increase in service charges and gas costs (I cover the hot water and heating costs), plus my tenant went 6 years without a rent increase. Not any more, it will go up each year now. Still will be a few years to get back to where I was.
I hate having to increase the rent so much, she is an excellent tenant, really looks after the place and has never failed to pay the rent, but I do need to make it pay.
Sadly we have to increase rents whenever we can get in anticipation of Labour implementing rent controls.
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