the number of houses available for rent in each neighborhood is represented against the historical supply crunch

London’s rental market has fallen into chaos as a severe shortage of properties leaves tenants struggling to find somewhere to live.

The supply crunch means the number of rental properties available in the capital last month fell 44% on 2021 and 25% below pre-pandemic levels, according to recent data.

With demand still high, tenants outnumber available properties by three to one, with Rightmove calling it “the most competitive rental market on record”.

The number of available rentals has fallen across all 32 boroughs and the City of London, with some of the most popular places to live, such as Islington, Lambeth, Hackney and Camden, seeing disastrous falls of more than 50% compared to last year.

New data compiled by TwentyCi for Homes & Property shows there are currently 44,646 rentals available in the capital.

Westminster has the most homes currently available for rent, with 6,271 listed. The central borough is followed by Tower Hamlets in east London, where there are 3,568, and Kensington and Chelsea in west London, where tenants can choose from 3,452 homes to rent.

Laura Stronghill, senior head of lettings at the Canary Wharf office in the Hamptons, said that in Tower Hamlets the high numbers could be explained by the large amount of build-to-let developments and new builds in the area, such as Canary Wharf Group’s Vertus and Landmark Pinnacle. residential tower.

However, higher inventory levels do not necessarily mean lower prices or a less competitive market.

“Despite the fact that there is a seemingly good level of stock, we are still finding that demand is outstripping supply and that there are multiple offers on most properties,” Ms Stronghill said.

“This is probably because most people returning to London are based in Canary Wharf and the City for work and want an easy commute, using as little public transport as possible. So there is demand for these big sites.”

Stronghill also added that it was the “right type of stock” coming to the market, pointing out that Rightmove shows there are around 1,800 properties in Tower Hamlets on the market, but that 555 of these are one-beds and 837 they have two beds. beds.

In Westminster, James Benson, co-founder of James of Westminster, said the apartments were “flying out the door” before the photos were taken.

He said one explanation for the greater availability in the borough was that rents in Westminster were “prohibitively high” for people to consider if they could only work in London three days a week.

At the other end of the scale, the boroughs with the fewest properties available were the City of London, with just 220 homes currently on the rental market. Havering, Bexley, Sutton and Barking and Dagenham had less than 500 homes available.

Number of houses to rent in each borough of London