Plumstead in South East London has been named the most affordable place to rent in the capital, found property portal Rightmove.
Rightmove researched the average asking rents of two-bedroom properties in London and discovered that Plumstead is the cheapest, at £1,143 per month. This is a huge seven times cheaper than the most expensive in Mayfair.
Demand for rental accommodation in the capital has reached record highs in the last year, with a 69% rise in email enquiries from home-hunters to letting agents.
The South East and East London feature strongly in the top 20 cheapest areas, with Middle Park the second most affordable at £1,192 a month and Eltham the third at £1,195.
In Greater London, the average asking rent for a two-bed is £2,216 per month, an increase of over 6% in the last 12 months from £2,086. This also rose faster than the previous annual growth of 3.7%.
It is believed that the Outer London market is fuelling these increases, as the average rent here has risen by 8.4% in the past year to £1,493, compared with the smaller growth of 2.3% the year before.
Head of Lettings at Rightmove, Sam Mitchell says: “Rental asking prices have been steadily increasing in the past few years, following a short lull post-Olympics.
“Those struggling to find a place they can afford could consider these more affordable areas, and visit them to see if they would suit their lifestyle. Factors like being close to a tube station or a good school will always come at a premium, but it will help if you’re looking in an area with a below average London rental price to begin with.”1
Lettings Manager at Robinson Jackson, Alexa Joyeux adds: “We started noticing an increased demand for Plumstead among tenants when the DLR opened in nearby Woolwich in 2009. As soon as work started on the Crossrail station, enquiries stepped up another gear.
“In fact, in the last 18 months, we have seen rental values rise in the region of 20% as tenants position themselves in Plumstead ahead of Crossrail’s opening.
“We’ve also noticed a change in the type of tenant applying for properties; they’re coming from further afield and many of those have been priced out of areas like Bow in East London and South West London boroughs.
“Plumstead, for the time being, retains a level of affordability mixed with a good housing stock – lots of pretty Victorian terraces – wide open spaces that include Plumstead Common, Winn’s Common and Oxleas Woods, plus a very short journey to the revived and regenerated Woolwich town centre.”1