London rents notch up inflation-busting rise

Inflation may have been running high but rents across the capital have been running even higher, rising well ahead of inflation for at least the past 18 months, according to the estate agency Savills.

Rents for prime properties throughout London are up 10 per cent in the past 12 months. That leaves them at an average of 4 per cent ahead of their pre-credit crunch peak in 2007, with "no evidence of a slowdown to come". In Hampstead, north London, for example, tenants who work in the City have driven up rents to 15 per cent ahead of peak levels. The picture is the same in Islington.

Savills said demand from foreign tenants had pushed up rents in St John's Wood and Regent's Park by 5 per cent in the three months to June, leaving them 20 per cent above peak levels. On average, however, prime central London rents, which were up 7.5 per cent over the past year and 3.8 per cent over the past quarter, were 1 per cent below peak levels.