Rent in London’s poshest postcodes down for the first time in four years

[LONDON] Rents in London’s most prestigious neighbourhoods declined for the first time in over four years, as an increase in supply eased the pressure on the city’s rental market.

Rental values across prime London – which includes the British capital’s most affluent postcodes – fell 0.6 per cent year on year (yoy) in December, according to data from researcher LonRes. That is the first annual fall in rental prices since summer 2021, when the UK was preparing to end its Covid-19 lockdown rules.

“The slowdown in rental growth finally turned into an annual fall in December,” said Nick Gregori, head of research at LonRes. “At the end of the year, stock on the market was 36.6 per cent higher than 12 months earlier,” he added, reducing landlords’ ability to hike prices.

Rental growth slowed across London last year, a shift some experts pinned on greater supply and prices that had become unaffordable to many residents. It brought an end to a period of red-hot rental growth after the pandemic, when landlords were hiking prices in response to higher interest rates, tougher regulation and insatiable demand from those moving back to London.

The number of rental contracts agreed in prime London increased 16.9 per cent yoy in December, while instructions to let rose 59 per cent in the same period, LonRes’ data showed. That is a sign more homeowners are putting their properties on the rental market, making it easier for would-be tenants to secure agreements.

Average rental values across prime London remain 31 per cent above the average achieved between 2017 and 2019, LonRes said. Still, rental growth in central London – where more investors are affected by changes to taxation – underperformed prime London as a whole in 2025. BLOOMBERG