London asking rents hit record high with fierce competition set to persist into 2023
Average asking rents in London have hit a record £2,480 per month amid fierce competition for properties in the capital, according to property website Rightmove.
The average asking rent in London jumped 15 per cent annually to reach £2,480 at the end of last year, while asking rents in inner London climbed even higher to pass £3,000 for the first time ever, Rightmove said.
While rents in the capital continue to outpace the rest of the country, the average asking rent also jumped 9.7 per cent on a national scale in 2022, with the national average hitting a record at £1,172.
Moreover, rent prices show little sign of easing, with Rightmove forecasting asking rents to rise a further five per cent in 2023, unless competition significantly eases.
It comes as the imbalance between supply and demand remains extremely high.
While the number of available homes to rent is up 13 per cent compared to last year, demand has risen a staggering 53 per cent since pre-pandemic 2019 levels, according to Rightmove figures.
Meanwhile, though competition is expected to slightly ease nationally, the problem is set to only get worse in the capital, where demand continues to outpace demand. The number of available properties in London is down two per cent compared to last year, while tenant demand is up four per cent, Rightmove said.
“Although the fierce competition among tenants to find a home is starting to ease, it is still double the level it was back in 2019. Letting agents are seeing extremely high volumes of tenant enquiries and dealing with tens of potential tenants for each available property,” Tim Bannister, Rightmove’s director of property science, said.
“There appears to be some more property choice for renters compared to the record low levels of last year which would slightly ease the fierce competition to secure a home. This is why we’re forecasting that the pace of annual growth will ease to around five per cent by the end of the year nationally, although this would still significantly exceed the average of two per cent that we saw during the five years before the pandemic,” he added.
James Redington, sales and lettings director at London estate agent Douglas & Gordon, commented on the situation in the capital: “There is no sign of the rental market slowing down due to the continuing imbalance between supply and demand. We’ve seen the highest rent increases we’ve seen for decades, and we don’t expect this to slow down in the short term.”