Rents in London are falling as the capital’s stagnant market drags back the rest of the UK

Houses in Finsbury Park, North London, EnglandShutterstock

LONDON — London’s stagnant property market is dragging back the UK market as a whole, according to the July rental index from rentals-insurance firm HomeLet.

It found that the average price for new lettings grew by 1.1% in July across the UK, but fell by 0.6% in London to £1,564 a month.

That makes July the fourth month in a row in which London saw rent price falls.

The pace of decline is slowing — June saw a 2.9% drop — but the London market is now starkly different from even last year.

Rents in the capital were rising at a rate of 6.6% per month in July 2016.

London’s property market has been adversely affected by uncertainty around the Brexit vote, as well as tax changes for landlords in April last year. A stamp duty hike on second homes led to a rush of landlords buying new properties, which subsequently boosted supply.

HomeLet said the figures show the Greater London rental market “continues to act as a brake on the UK as a whole”

Rental figures from the July 2017 HomeLet Rental Index

How that breaks down (annual variation, July 2016 to July 2017):

Greater London: -0.6%

UK: 1.1%

UK excluding Greater London: 1.6%

Here’s how it breaks down across the UK:

HomeLet