This South London Town Is Officially The Cheapest Place To Live In The City – But Some Would Say It Doesn’t Even Count As London

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A recent study revealed some pretty shocking news about just how bad the rental market is in London. Specifically, data from Zoopla revealed that renting in London is twice as expensive as renting anywhere else in the UK. So what’s a Londoner to do? If you’re looking for more affordable properties, you may want to head to one particular South London town, which is officially the cheapest place to live in London.

The town in question? None other than Croydon. Here, you’ll find properties with an average monthly rent of £1,617. Which, to a Londoner, is a dream! But when you compare it to the rest of the country, it gets pretty upsetting. That’s because the cheapest place to rent in the UK is the North East, where the average monthly price to rent a property is just £760. Even that is nothing compared to the city of Burnley, with average rents of £652, or the coastal area of Hartlepool, where rents average out at £578(!).

Yeah… If you’ll excuse me for a second, I’m just going to go and sit quietly in the corner and rock back and forth while I question my life choices.

But it’s not completely doom and gloom. There are a number of other areas in London that also boast relatively affordable average rents. And they’re a far sight cheaper than the city’s average monthly rent of £2,224.

The cheapest places to live in London

These are currently the cheapest places to rent in London:

1. Croydon (average monthly rent: £1,617)
2. Sutton (average monthly rent: £1,628)
3. Bexley (average monthly rent: £1,638)
4. Havering (average monthly rent: £1,703)
5. Bromley (average monthly rent: £1,714)

Is Croydon even part of London?

So, on to the biggest question on everyone’s lips. Is Croydon even really a part of London? It seems so far away! And the answer is yes! The London borough of Croydon is part of Greater London. It was once part of Surrey, but it was then made part of Greater London in 1965.

And you can hardly say anything about travelling to and from Croydon being difficult. The area is serviced by a delightful tram, as well as plenty of local buses (including the Superloop). There are also National Rail and Overground stations in the area.

And for those of you who claim it’s only London if it’s in the middle of the city – good luck finding anywhere affordable to live!

You can read Zoopla’s full findings on the UK rental market here.