Friday 01 May 2015 4:02 am

Here are the most expensive places to rent outside of London

By: Jessica Morris

A short supply of housing means London is becoming ever more crowded, which is stretching resources, pushing up prices, and prompting people to move further out.

But before you make the leap into a cosy commuter town, it isn't necessarily any better elsewhere, as rents are still pretty high and you'll have to pay through the nose for what's likely to be a hellish commute.

The average monthly rent for a two-bedroom property in greater London is around £2,216, according to new research by online property portal Rightmove.

However, the figure isn't that much more than the monthly rent of a two-bedroom property in Esher, Surrey, where individuals can expect to pay nearly £2,000 a month. This has risen by 4.1 per cent over the past year. 

And the figure was £1,612 for a similar property in the commuter town of Oxford.

"People moving out of the capital to places in the south east has contributed to double-digit growth in rents in some of the most expensive places like Oxford and Henley-on-Thames," Sam Mitchell, head of lettings at Rightmove.

"Factors like being close to good schools and transport links will always come at a premium, and as these figures show it’s wrong to think that anywhere outside of London will definitely be cheaper than in London."

A number of studies have suggested that, as London becomes more crowded, and transport links improve, more people are choosing to live in nearby commuter towns which offer a better quality of life.

Outside of London, two-bedroom property rents rose 4.6 per cent over the last year compared to 2.5 per cent the year before, Rightmove reports.

HomeLet's rental index also shows London rental growth is being outpaced by the regions.