{"id":11583,"date":"2026-04-11T09:00:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T09:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/11583\/"},"modified":"2026-04-11T09:00:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T09:00:17","slug":"prime-london-rents-rose-by-1-2-in-march","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/11583\/","title":{"rendered":"Prime London rents rose by 1.2% in March"},"content":{"rendered":"

Prime London rents<\/a> have risen by 1.2 per cent over the last month as supply decreased and uncertainty around the Middle East conflict persisted, analysis from Knight Frank has revealed.<\/p>\n

The analysis of data from Rightmove showed the number of new rental listings in Q1 2026 in prime central and prime outer London was 8 per cent lower than the same period in 2025.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the number of new prospective tenants has increased by 7 per cent over the same period.<\/p>\n

Knight Frank said supply has also fallen in recent years as it has become \u201cless attractive\u201d to be a landlord.<\/p>\n

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Reported mortgage defaults surge in Q1 as Middle East conflict continues<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

It said the Renters\u2019 Rights Act, due to be introduced next month, will add uncertainty around rent increases, repossession rules, and selling properties.<\/p>\n

\u201cPutting the decline into context, the number of Rightmove listings in Q1 was 15 per cent below the five-year average. The number of new prospective tenants was flat over the same period,\u201d said Knight Frank.<\/p>\n

As a result of this growing imbalance, average rents have been pushed higher, with rental values in prime central rising by 1.2 per cent in the 12 months to March.<\/p>\n

This took the total increase over the last decade to 29 per cent.<\/p>\n

Similarly, in prime outer London, which includes Hampstead, Chiswick and Canary Wharf, the annual increase reached 2.8 per cent, producing a rise of 24 per cent since 2016.<\/p>\n

Middle East conflict<\/p>\n

The analysis also attributed the increase in rents to the ongoing military situation in the Middle East, pointing out that it has led to an rise in demand.<\/p>\n

The number of new prospective tenants in March 2026 was 16.6 per cent higher than the same month in 2025.<\/p>\n

For properties valued at more than \u00a31,000 per week, this increase was 16.9 per cent.<\/p>\n

Knight Frank said the increase in people looking to temporarily move to the UK from the Middle East has contributed to the rise in demand.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have seen an influx of enquiries from the Middle East for people looking at short-term rentals of six months or less,\u201d Knight Frank\u2019s head of prime central London lettings, David Mumby, said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey tend to be British, European or North American nationals with families who have moved to the Middle East recently, but who already have a network in London.\u201d<\/p>\n

The analysis, also found the rise was driven by an increase in mortgage<\/a> rates last month as higher energy costs pushed up inflation expectations.<\/p>\n

tom.dunstan@ft.com<\/p>\n

What\u2019s your view?<\/p>\n

Have your say in the comments section below or email us: ftadviser.newsdesk@ft.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Prime London rents have risen by 1.2 per cent over the last month as supply decreased and uncertainty…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11584,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[26],"tags":[5481,5483,5482,27,725],"class_list":["post-11583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-london","tag-buy-to-let","tag-ft-adviser","tag-knight-frank-llp","tag-london","tag-mortgage-rates"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/116385259467547857","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11583"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11583\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}