London room rents 'stable, not affordable'

• London room rents have fallen marginally 0.4% year on year to £980 per month, but strong, sustained demand is preventing any significant decreases.
• Across the capital NW5 (Kentish Town) has seen the highest increase in rents, up 14% year on year to £1,082 per month.
• SE12 (Lee), N20 (Totteridge/Whetstone) and SW20 (Wimbledon/Raynes Park) also make the top 10 for the biggest rent increases in London, but rents here are still below the city average.

Data from SpareRoom's Rental Index for Q2 2025 reveals London room rents have fallen marginally 0.4% year on year and now average £980 per month.

Although that's £34 per month cheaper than the record high of £1,014 recorded in Q4 2023, the average rent in London is still 26% higher than five years ago (Q2 2020).

With demand for rooms outpacing availability - there are 2.4 people searching per room available to rent in the capital - rents are flatlining rather than falling which is not helping renters who've long been struggling with the sky-high cost of living.

Close to three in 10 (28%) London renters now spend more than half their take-home pay on rent and eight in 10 spend more than 30% of their pay on rent according to a March 2025 survey of flatsharers.

The biggest rent increases in the capital have been in NW - though still less than one percentage point - and NW5 (Kentish Town) has seen the highest rise of any postcode district, up 14% year on year.

Close behind NW5 as the biggest risers are SW7 (South Kensington / Knightsbridge), up 13.4% year on year, and SW13 (Barnes), up 11.9%.

SE12 (Lee), N20 (Totteridge/Whetstone) and SW20 (Wimbledon/Raynes Park) make the top 10 for the biggest rent increases in London, but rents here are still below average for London.

Average room rents are now above £1,000 per month in SW, W, WC and EC postcodes.

Recent search data from SpareRoom points to priced-out flatsharers migrating further out of London, with commuter towns like Esher, Chertsey, Stanwell, Seven Kings, Chadwell Heath, Harrow Weald, Rainham, Caversham, Beaconsfield, Hoddesdon and Harpenden all seeing significant uplifts in interest from renters.

Matt Hutchinson, director at flatshare site SpareRoom, comments: “London rents are stable, but not affordable. Flatlining is certainly better than rising, but we need to see significant decreases for them to feel in any way comfortable for renters. It's hard to see that happening at any point in the near future, so the question is, at what point does London simply become unaffordable for the average renter?”

The table below shows London average rents by region and year-on-year change:

The table below shows the London postcodes where average rents have increased most year on year:

The table below shows the most and least expensive London postcodes: