Prime London rental growth at lowest level since 2021...

In the prime London lettings market both supply and demand slowed last month according to property data consult icy LonRes.

Annual rental growth fell to 0.4%, the slowest since July 2021. However, rents remain 28.1% above their 2017-2019 (pre-pandemic) average.

New letting instructions recorded their first fall of the year in June, down 5.1% on the same month last year. But the figure for the first half of the year is up by around 10% on an annual basis.

There were 2.5% fewer lets agreed in June than a year earlier, and this was 52.2% below the 2017-2019 June average. At the halfway point of the year lettings activity is around 9% ahead of where it was at the same point in 2023.

Properties available to let have been rising, although the pace of growth slowed in June.

There were 8% more homes on the rental market across prime London than a year earlier (compared with 20.3% growth at the end of May). Price remains the most significant factor in terms of available stock.

Availability of homes fell across all price points in 2021, bottoming out at the end of that year. Since then stock levels have started to recover, but different price points have moved at different speeds.

Below £750 per week, progress has been gradual at best – availability was 6.4% lower at the end of June than a year earlier and is more than 70% below where it was five years ago. Above £1,000 per week the recovery has been much clearer, with the £750 to £1,000 band also seeing growth.

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