London rent soars to almost double rest of UK

The average cost of renting a home in London has increased to the highest level on record, at nearly twice as much as the rest of the UK.

London renting levels are now 87.8% more expensive than the rest of the UK, according to the September Homelet Rental Index.

The September HomeLet Rental Index shows renting a home in Greater London is 6.3% higher than the same time last year, and now stands at £1,273 a month – which is another all-time high cost for tenants living in the region.

This is a stark contrast to the cost of renting a home around the rest of the UK, which saw rents increase by just 1.4% during the same period to an average of £678 a month. 

Homelet MD Ian Fraser said that London rents have persisted in bucking the national trend as they continued to rise.

“According to Boris Johnson this week, the combination of competition for housing from wealthy foreign buyers and rich City workers, along with a lack of available credit to purchase their own home, seems to be taking its toll on working ‘middle-class’ families in Greater London, who he feels are being squeezed out of the property market.

“As a result, these middle class families are left with no option but to rent, which leads to increased demand and prices within the private rented sector, particularly in the Capital. But with the average tenant in Greater London earning an average 2.6% less than they did in September 2010, this is an issue that certainly needs addressing, as these families could also be priced out of the rental market too.

“Just 12 months ago, the difference in rents between Greater London and the rest of the UK, was 53%, and in 2010 an even smaller 40%. It’s astonishing to see how this gap has more than doubled over the past two years, and I believe it won’t be long before rents in the Capital are at least double the UK average,” he added.