DIGGING DEEPER: LONDON'S RENTAL MARKET

The private rental sector is home to 20% of English households – up from 13% just ten years ago. In London the proportion is much higher at 30% of households, with the proportion also rising rapidly over the last ten years (up from 18%). We dug deep into Dataloft’s rent paid dataset*, to reveal more about this important layer of the housing market. The rental affordability rule of thumb: don’t expect tenants to pay more than 30% of their earnings on rent, appears to be substantiated by the numbers. The typical London tenant is in their twenties (51% are in their twenties or younger) and prefers to live centrally. Once tenants know an area they are likely to stick with it (over 40% of tenants move less than 2 miles). Average London rents fell marginally in 2017 (-0.8% to Q4 2017 on the same quarter a year earlier) but there are marked differences between property types and transport zones. For instance, the rent for a one bed flat rose by 2.8% over the year. * Based on an extensive dataset gathered by tenant referencing company Rent4Sure.