Prime London lettings supply increased in June as the pace of falls in agreed lets slowed. Rental growth accelerated, recording the second highest annual growth figure in more than 18 months.
This is according to property data consultancy LonRes.
Average rents across prime London increased by 5.6% in June on an annual basis, up from a revised 3.1% in May. Bar the 6.1% recorded in February this year, this is the highest rate since the end of 2023. Rents across prime London are now 35.7% above their 2017-2019 (pre-pandemic) average.
LonRes data for June indicated an annual decrease of 6.5% in lets agreed but a 22.9% increase in new instructions across prime London.
With activity previously constrained by a lack of available properties, this growth in supply is welcome news for the market. At the end of June there were 9.2% more properties available to rent than a year earlier, though this was 64.9% fewer than five years ago.
In recent months, any increases in availability had been confined to higher price points but in June that trend changed. All bands from £750 per week and up recorded annual growth in stock on the market to let in June, with significant increases this year. Despite this, only the £5,000+ per week band has recovered to beyond its June 2019 level, six years on.