Member Article

Average monthly rent in London expected to hit £2,000 by 2020

The average rent for a two-bed property in London will surpass £2,000 per month by January 2020 if rental rates continue to rise the current page, according to Labour’s London Assembly housing spokesperson Tom Copley AM.

The Valuation Office Agency data by Tom Copley AM found that the average private rent for a 2-bed home grew by 0.42% a month between November 2004 to March 2015, meaning that the average rent for a 2-bed London home in 2015 is now £7,700 a year more than in November 2004.

If the same rate of rent growth from the past 11 years continues, the average 2-bed private rent in London will hit £2,007 a month in January 2020 with a one bed property hitting £2,010 by 2025.

If this increase continues at the same rate, a single earner household would need to earn almost £120,000 a year to afford their rent by 2020.

Copley said the mayor should look to limit the rate at which rents in the capital are increasing, “here’s no way that rents consistently rising faster than wages is sustainable in the long term.

“These figures show just how broken the London rental market has become. We desperately need to call time on ever increasing rents, which are driving many people into poverty or out of the capital altogether.

“There’s no way that rents consistently rising faster than wages is sustainable in the long term.

“Most other western economies exercise some form of regulation over rent increases, many of which have much larger and better functioning private rented sectors than we do in London. With the number of private renters in the capital due to overtake the number of home owners, it’s about time the capital followed suit and gave private tenants the security and certainty that they deserve.

“The next Mayor of London has a mammoth task to get London’s housing market under control. What’s clear is that Boris Johnson’s soft touch approach to housing has seen rents rocket and standards deteriorate, pricing many low and middle income people out of the capital.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ellen Forster .