London tenants continue to suffer as rent reaches £597 per week
The amount Londoners fork out on rent grew 12 per cent year-on-year in July, new figures show, topping £597 per week.
According to data from London estate agent Foxtons, July saw an average of 21 rental applicants per new home arriving on the market, an 18 per cent increase month-on-month, however a 12 per cent decrease when compared to 2022.
East London saw a 63 per cent increase during the four weeks rising to 26 applicants per instruction, becoming the second highest after south London which had an average of 30 applicants per instruction last month.
Flats and houses in central London continued to see the highest average weekly rent, at almost £680.
In recent months, a cocktail of shrinking supply and rising living costs has led landlords to increase the rent on their properties.
“The ferocious run-up in rents in recent history exert an unwelcome strain on the already precarious financial situations of many amid the cost-of-living storm,” Myron Jobson, senior personal finance analyst at Interactive Investor, told Morning Wire
“Those with modest incomes have found themselves wrestling with escalating rental costs, forcing them to sacrifice a sizeable portion of their hard-earned income to keep a roof over their heads. This leaves them with less money for other essential needs or even to indulge in discretionary spending.”
“As our market research predicted at the start of 2023, price increases in the lettings market are less extreme than we saw last year,” Gareth Atkins, managing director of lettings, at Foxtons, said.
“We’ve seen expected growth and are now into a more consistent busy market we normally see at this time of year. As such, the market will remain highly competitive through summer. This July, as the seasonal rush began, there was an average of 21 renters registering per each new instruction in London.”
It comes as Sadiq Khan warned earlier this month that unchecked private rents in London could soar to upwards of £2,700 per calendar month next year.
The mayor has been calling for a two-year rent freeze which could reportedly save London renters £3,374 on average.
“Private renters make up nearly a third of everyone living in the capital, but they are being consistently let down by a government that refuses to listen and take urgent action to protect them from even greater financial hardship,” Khan said.