"August remained in line with our expectations and there was gradual, steady market growth throughout the year"
- Gareth Atkins - Foxtons
The latest data released by London letting agent, Foxtons, has revealed that average rental prices have shown little change since June with tenants in the capital facing the highest average rent prices in the last three years.
Applicant registrations increased 6% month on month, with August seeing the largest volume of registrations in 2023 as expected. However, the total volume of applicant registrations was lower than that seen during the particularly competitive market in August 2022, and more in line with levels of demand seen in 2021.
Similarly, there was an average of 23 new renters per new rental instruction, an 11% increase on July. However, compared to August last year, the number of new renters per new instruction reduced by 17%. Foxtons’ data found that East London has seen a 46% month-on-month increase in renters per instruction, with an average of 38 renters per instruction.
Analysis of Zoopla data also showed there were over 35,000 new instructions this August, a decrease of 7% from July. However, this was up 8% compared to 2022 year to date. Over 10% of these new instructions across London were in Westminster, which had the highest proportion of instructions compared to other boroughs.
London continued to experience the highest rental applicant budgets seen in recent years, with a 7% increase compared to 2022 year to date, Foxtons data showed. Renter spend rose 1% month on month, with applicants spending on average 100% of their rental budgets to secure a tenancy in August.
Gareth Atkins, Managing Director of Lettings at Foxtons, said: “August remained in line with our expectations and there was gradual, steady market growth throughout the year. Compared to July, demand rose, supply fell and prices remained consistently high.
"However, competition was not nearly as frenetic as it was in 2022 and as such, we have not seen further significant price increases. Across our office network, we continue to see more landlords requesting our management service to protect their assets from a financial and compliance perspective.
Sarah Tonkinson, Managing Director of Institutional PRS and Build to Rent at Foxtons, adds: “August had, as it always does, the largest volume of registrations of any month this year.
"Prices remained immovably high, and year to date, London is seeing its highest average rent prices in the last three years. On the other hand, with London demonstrating more robust stock levels than in 2022, we can clearly see what “normal” will look like in the market to come.
"It will be on landlords, developers, and their agents to differentiate their listings, utilise London’s renter demand and attract good tenants to their property, as we head into autumn.”
