Renters leave London at highest rate in decade, research shows (2024)

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Renters leave London at highest rate in decade, research shows? ›

Renters are leaving London at the highest rate in a decade, according to research. In 2022, 40% of tenants who were moving home chose to leave the capital, up from 28% 10 years ago.

The rapid recovery in London rents post-Covid has seen London tenants leave the capital in record numbers. Last year 40% of renters moving home in London chose to leave the capital, up from just 28% a decade ago. This equated to 90,370 households, with the numbers doubling since 2012.

Between 2009 and 2023, the average weekly rent for private renters in England increased from 153 British pounds to 231 British pounds. Nevertheless, rents vary widely across England.

The reasons such exoduses keep happening are as obvious as they are dispiriting. Home ownership is increasingly out of reach. Renting is exorbitant: average London rents are almost double the national average. Public transport is risibly expensive.

Towns including Trowbridge, Folkestone and Hungerford as well as cities such as Oxford, Winchester and Bath have experienced waves of “down from London-ers”. “More London renters are leaving the capital than we've seen for quite some time,” says Aneisha Beveridge, the head of research at Hamptons.

London's quality of life has plummeted over the last four years as housing prices and loneliness rates have soared. “When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life” – so goes the famous quote by 18th century writer Dr Samuel Johnson.

Even though New York is more expensive, salaries tend to be higher than in London. Consumer Prices: London's consumer prices are 16.52% lower than New York City (without rent). Rent Prices: Rent prices in London are 30.45% lower than in New York City.

The average monthly rent in London is now £2,121 - £90 higher than a year ago. This increase is higher than the UK average of £80 per month but is much lower than the £290 per month nationwide rise in the second half of 2022.

What is the average rent in the United States? The average rent in the United States is $1,518/month. This is 0.7% higher than this time last year. The states with the largest rent increases when compared to last year include Wyoming, North Dakota, and Vermont.

Is London growing or declining? ›

1991-2035: Growing population

In 2022, a new high of 8.9 million people lived in the city. This growth has been seen in both Inner and Outer London - although Inner London is still 1.4 million short of its peak, in 1931. By 2035, London's population is expected to increase to a total population of 9.6 million.

Figure 6: Net outflow of population from London increased during 2020-21. 30–45-year-olds were the age group that left in the most abnormally large numbers. There was a net loss of 93,600 people in this age group, almost double a normal year. Most of this increase was driven by people without children.

The United Kingdom is a top relocation option for many Americans. Most of them prefer to move to the UK because the place caters to the needs of ex-pats. It is also home to some of the world's prestigious universities and colleges, museums, art galleries, and world-renowned sports centers.

Last year, the UK rental market neared boiling point as tenants returned to cities after the pandemic. Now, the cost of living crisis has pushed costs higher still, as the housing supply dwindles. The average London rent for a room in a house share has hit a record high of £935, a 22 percent increase on last year.

Numbers of landlords reducing rents in London have more than doubled recently, new figures show. Latest data from Chestertons reveals a 125% increase in landlords choosing to lower their asking rents last month. The agency believes that rents have dropped by up to 10% in some areas compared to the same time last year.

There has been a surge in Londoners leaving the capital with Epsom and Ewell, Epping Forest and Dartford topping the list of relocation hotspots, a survey reveals. The research from Savills found that between January 2022 and August 2023, 6% of all moves outside of London were from the capital.

In 2022, 40% of tenants who were moving home chose to leave the capital, up from 28% 10 years ago. Also, 'Soaring costs for tiny rooms with nightmare landlords are forcing many London renters to move to the outer suburbs, or even leave the capital altogether,' reported the Evening Standard in December 2022.

An imbalance between supply and demand as the main driver of record-high prices. Households are also facing rising energy bills and food costs as part of the cost of living crisis and there is no respite when it comes to housing costs.

Skyrocketing rental prices – in part caused by landlords having to deal with their mortgages going up – are pushing people to food banks and even homelessness as rent prices have soared 31 per cent since 2021, say Savills.

Over the past three years, more than 350,000 individuals have departed from London, with 10,000 choosing to relocate to Greater Manchester in search of a more affordable and satisfying lifestyle.