Rents soar 20% in parts of London this year alone, says agency

Rents in London have risen an average six per cent this year, a leading agency claims - and some areas are up four times that amount.

Chestertons says rents are recovering from the steep falls they experienced last year when - following the first lockdown in March 2020 - they plummeted by up to 20 per cent in some parts of London.

At that time smaller apartments in Central London most affected but as the success of the vaccination programme continues and the prospect of some form of normality by summer, rents in many areas have started to recover.

Now tenants are continuing to look for larger properties and better access to outside space, and Chestertons figures show that rents in south west London showed some of the biggest increases - for example, average rents in Richmond are 24 per cent higher in April compared to January. 

Some more central areas that saw large falls last year have also started to bounce back quickly, such as St Johns Wood (up 23 per cent) and Little Venice (up 29 per cent) and Kensington (a rise of 26 per cent).

Richard Davies, Chestertons’ head of lettings, explains: “The rental market in London can change incredibly quickly and it now appears to be well on the road to recovery following a really difficult year, last year. Over half of our 31 London offices saw rents increase between January and April, with many of them seeing double-digit increases.

“With London’s travel and entertainment restrictions easing, we expect to see the central London lifestyle regaining its appeal, in particular for overseas students and people that have been living outside of London during lockdown. This will most likely cause prices for the most popular properties to continue to rise, such as those with a home office or outdoor space.”