More owners in London looking to rent out their properties

There has been a consistent rise in residential property owners looking to let their property, with a 15.3% increase across London from January to August this year compared to the same period in 2018. Properties on the market through real estate firm JLL have increased across the capital, though there are notable hotspots in key markets, with a 47.2% rise in Stratford, owing to a swathe of new build properties across higher, middle and lower price points. JLL’s City of London office has seen a 98.8% year on year increase, making new homes available to City workers, as JLL’s team has expanded and new developments completed. Figures show a clear appetite for rental properties from prospective tenants too, with JLL recording a 36.7% growth in the number of applicants registering with the property firm, looking to rent in through any of their 12 London agency offices. Legacy and diversity Stratford, here too, has seen particular growth, with a 125.7% increase in new tenants on their books over the first eight months of 2019 compared to the same period in 2018, as Londoners look to move East to properties with strong transport connections and Olympic legacy facilities on their doorstep. Lucy Morton, head of residential agency at JLL believes that the increase in people looking to rent and let in London comes down to multiple factors. ‘London offers huge diversity in properties available to rent,’ she said. ‘We’re seeing huge interest in the one to two bed market across the city, owing in part to the success of London’s well recognised universities in attracting students from around the world. But three to four-bedroom properties are doing just as well, with directors and C-suite staff relocating with their families for work,’ she explained. The demand for London’s rental properties is so strong that there appears to be an increasing number of applicants willing to ‘pre-let’ their new homes, renting new apartments off plan, guaranteeing them space in some of the capital's newest residential developments.