The slowest rent growth in England is being reported as good news, which tells you everything about where the bar has been set
Average Rent in London: What 2,290 Pounds a Month Actually Means
I have a ritual on the first of every month. I open my banking app, watch the rent leave, and say a short Welsh word my mother would not approve of. It is as close as I get to a spiritual practice.
So I read the latest figures with what I can only describe as tired interest. According to a rental market outlook citing the Office for National Statistics, the average private rent in London reached 2,290 pounds per month in April 2026, up 2.0 percent on the year. That, the same analysis notes, is the lowest annual rent growth of any English region, and a sharp slowdown from the double-digit rises of 2023 and 2024. The average for England as a whole was 1,438 pounds, putting London about 60 percent higher.
A separate cost-of-living guide gives a more recent reading: 2,302 pounds a month in June, against 1,446 pounds across England.
The Good News, Such As It Is
Let me be fair. Two percent is better than twelve. For two years London tenants were getting renewal letters that read like ransom notes. People I know were asked for an extra three or four hundred pounds a month with a few weeks’ warning. A rise roughly in line with wages is, by comparison, a mercy.
The reasons for the slowdown seem to be that rents hit the ceiling of what people can physically pay, and that the house-buying market cooled, with London house prices falling for eight months in a row on the same figures. You cannot get blood from a stone, and you cannot get 2,800 pounds from a teaching assistant.
The Less Good News
But a smaller increase on top of an enormous number is still an enormous number. The rent did not come down. It went up less.
The same outlook contains the figure I keep returning to. The average London rent for a one-bedroom flat is put at 52 percent of the median wage. More than half. Before tax in some calculations, which makes it worse.
The rule of thumb financial types like to quote is that housing should cost about 30 percent of income. In London that rule is a historical curiosity, like the farthing.
What the Average Hides
An average across thirty-three boroughs and every type of property hides a great deal. It includes four-bedroom houses in Richmond and studio flats in Barking. If you rent a room in a shared house you pay less than the headline figure. If you rent a family home in Zone 2 you pay a lot more.
It also mixes existing tenancies, where the rent may not have risen for a while, with new lets, which are what you face if you have to move. The figure for someone actually looking for a flat this month can be quite different.
How People Are Coping
From what I see among friends and neighbours in my bit of north London, the adjustments are familiar.
Sharing for longer. People in their late thirties with good jobs and a shelf in the fridge.
Moving out. Each year someone I know announces they are going to Walthamstow, then Leyton, then somewhere with a different area code.
Staying put. If you have a tolerable landlord and a rent that has not kept pace with the market, you do not move. You put up with the mould and the boiler and you stay very quiet.
Leaving. I have lost three friends to Bristol, two to Manchester and one, improbably, to Margate.
The Bit Where I Try to Be Useful
If you are renting in London, a few things are worth knowing.
Since the Renters’ Rights Act came into force in May, a landlord can raise the rent only once a year and must give two months’ notice. You can challenge an increase you think is above the market rate.
Check what similar flats near you are actually letting for before you accept a rise. Landlords sometimes ask for more than they would get on the open market, relying on the fact that moving is expensive and miserable.
Count the whole cost. Council tax, energy, water and broadband add a couple of hundred pounds or more to the monthly figure. A cheaper flat with terrible insulation may not be cheaper.
If you are struggling, your council has a duty to help prevent homelessness, and advice charities can tell you where you stand.
The Politics
Everybody agrees London does not have enough homes. They disagree about everything after that. Build more, say some, and prices will fall. Control rents, say others. Tax empty properties. Stop selling council homes. Loosen planning. Protect the green belt. Each has its champions and each has been promised by somebody.
I do not have the answer and I distrust anyone who claims to have a simple one. What I notice is that the figure keeps going up under every government and every mayor, and that the people in charge of fixing it are almost never renters.
Perspective
I love this city. I came here from a town where the most exciting thing was the Thursday market, and I would not go back. But I am aware, on the first of each month, that I am paying a great deal for the privilege, and that many people who make London work, the nurses and bus drivers and cafe staff, are paying it on less.
Two percent. I suppose I should be grateful. I shall say the Welsh word a little more quietly next month.
For Light Relief
The London Prat has a rather sharper take on London rent at 2,280 pounds a month, along with pages of British satirical news on rent and London satirical news about landlords and deposits. You will find my notes on being skint in the capital there too. Bohiney Magazine covers American rent.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/
