Here’s some cheery news for you to digest alongside your oat flat white and your almond croissant this morning. According to new research from the flat-share extraordinaires over at SpareRoom; the average rental price in London has risen by a staggering (yet bleakly unsurprising) 32% over the past five years. Isn’t that just great?
The UK’s leading flat-share site delved in to the data, analysing rental prices in London between 2019 and 2024 to reveal just how much they’ve increased across the city over time. Spoiler alert: it’s quite a lot.
Which postcodes have seen the biggest price increase?
The largest increase in monthly rental prices was actually found in SE2. The postcode that covers parts of Greenwich and Abbey Wood saw a hefty 54.7% rise, with the average rent price catapulting from £531 to £820 between 2019 and 2024. Following closely behind is EC2 (the postcode that boasts the trendy areas of Shoreditch and Liverpool Street) which has seen a 53.4% increase in rental prices over the past 5 years. And taking the bronze medal (yes, I’ve been glued to the Olympics over the past few weeks) is N9, where average rental prices have risen from £571 to £841. Yikes.
Which postcodes have seen the lowest price increase?
In slightly better news, there were some London postcodes in which rental prices have increased by less than 15% since 2019. W10, for example, has only seen an 11.9% increase over the last five years. Admittedly the rent was already eye-wateringly expensive back in 2019, but we’ll focus on the positive, hey? SW14 also saw one of the smallest increases, with average rental prices rising from £741 to £850.
Interestingly, all of the east London postcodes saw a rise well above the London average, whilst all of the west London postcodes were below the capital’s average price rise. Perhaps west is best, after all.
Matt Hutchinson, Director at SpareRoom commented: “It’s interesting to see that rental increases across the western half of London, including postcodes W, SW and NW all fall below the five-year average, whilst eastern postcodes are pushing beyond the average.
Rents have now started to fall slightly in London, but the five year figures are shocking, revealing just how unaffordable London has become. While many people are calling for rent caps in the Capital, it feels way too late for that. At what point will London simply become unaffordable for young professionals altogether?”