Ondon’s rental market has been thrown into chaos as an extreme shortage of properties has tenants scrambling to find a place to live.
The supply crisis means the number of rental properties available in the capital last month fell 44 per cent in 2021 and 25 per cent below levels seen before the pandemic, according to recent data.
With demand still high, renters outnumber available properties three to one, with Rightmove calling it “the most competitive rental market ever recorded.”
The number of available rentals has fallen across all 32 boroughs and the City of London, with some of the most popular places to live including Islington, Lambeth, Hackney and Camden seeing disastrous drops of more than 50 per cent compared to last year.
New data compiled by TwentyCi for Homes & Property shows that there are currently 44,646 rentals available across the capital.
Westminster has the most houses currently available for rent, with 6,271 listed. The Central Borough is followed by Tower Hamlets in East London, where there are 3,568, and Kensington and Chelsea in West London, where renters can choose from 3,452 rental homes.
Laura Stronghill, senior head of leasing at the Hamptons’ Canary Wharf office, said in Tower Hamlets the high numbers can be explained by the large number of build-to-let developments and new builds in the area, such as Canary Wharf Group’s Vertus. and Landmark Pinnacle. residential tower.
However, higher stock levels do not necessarily mean lower prices or a less competitive market.
“Despite apparently a good level of stock, we still find that demand is outstripping supply and multiple offers are hitting most properties,” said Ms Stronghill.
“This is likely because most people returning to London are based in Canary Wharf and the City for work and want easy commuting, using as little public transport as possible. So the demand is there for these big sites.”
Stronghill also added that this was the “right kind of stock” entering the market, noting that Rightmove shows that there are around 1,800 properties in Tower Hamlets on the market, but that 555 of them are one-bedrooms and 837 are two-bedrooms. . Beds
In Westminster, James Benson, co-founder of James of Westminster, said flats were “flying out the door” before the photographs were taken.
He said one explanation for the higher availability in the borough was that rents in Westminster are “prohibitively high” for people to consider if they only worked in London three days a week.
At the other end of the scale, the boroughs with the fewest available properties were the City of London, with just 220 homes currently on the rental market. Havering, Bexley, Sutton and Barking and Dagenham had less than 500 available homes.
Number of houses to rent in each London borough
London Borough |
Number of rentals |
westminster |
6,271 |
tower villages |
3,568 |
Kensington and Chelsea |
3,452 |
Camden |
2,782 |
Hammersmith and Fulham |
2,327 |
Wandsworth |
1,926 |
barnet |
1,855 |
lambeth |
1,655 |
Brent |
1,540 |
southwark |
1,495 |
to eat |
1,490 |
islington |
1,463 |
Newham |
1,146 |
Hackney |
1,107 |
Croydon |
1,049 |
hounslow |
1,023 |
haringey |
1,018 |
Lewisham |
990 |
Greenwich |
905 |
hillingdon |
897 |
red bridge |
789 |
Harrow |
738 |
merton |
737 |
Enfield |
693 |
Richmond on the Thames |
625 |
waltham forest |
546 |
Bromley |
537 |
Kingston on the Thames |
500 |
Barking and Dagenham |
373 |
Sutton |
333 |
Bexley |
308 |
Havering |
288 |
City of London |
220 |