Brexit is making rent cheaper in London for the first time in nearly a decade

Houses and shops in London’s Notting HillShutterstock

LONDON — Rents in London fell for the first time for nearly a decade in April, while rental inflation across the UK fell to its lowest level for seven years, according to the latest the HomeLet Rental Index.

It found that the average monthly cost of a new tenancy in the capital fell to £1,546 in April from £1,537 in the same month last year.

The 1.2% drop is the first time average London rents have fallen on an annualised basis since December 2009.

This negative growth in London, along with a smaller decline in the rest of south-east England, pushed rental price inflation down across the country as a whole. Rents on new tenancies signed across the UK during April were on average 0.4% higher year-on-year — the lowest figure recorded since 2010.

Here’s the full table:

HomeLet

Fears over the effects of Brexit in the capital, combined with a sudden supply glut, pushed prices down.

Johnny Morris, research director at Countrywide, told the Guardian in March: “Economic and housing sentiment — both in sales and rental markets — has been affected by our vote to leave the EU, in London more than anywhere else.”

“This uncertainty causes tenants to be more cautious, meaning less likely to move and more likely to look for cheaper accommodation,” he added.

Insurance firm HomeLet’s chief executive Martin Totty said: “Rents have been rising at a more modest pace across the whole of the UK in recent months, with lower levels of rental price inflation and even falling rents in areas of the country where prices were previously rising most quickly.”