The London Rent Review
Annual rent inflation by English region — year to May 2026
London’s year so far — annual inflation, each month of 2026
The headline is that London rents rose 2.0% in the year to May 2026 — the slowest of any English region, and well below the 3.4% recorded across England. Read on its own, that number tells a landlord the London market has stalled. It has not. It has split.
Across the boroughs we work, Camden rents fell 2.2% over the year — the only one to go backwards. Newham rose 5.2%, Greenwich 4.4%. An inner, higher-priced London has come off the boil; an outer, regeneration-led London has not.
This is the number that matters for a valuation. “London +2%” is an average of a fall and a surge, and almost no individual property sits at the average. A Camden flat renewed at last year’s figure may now sit above its market; a Newham flat priced off last year’s figure may be leaving money on the table. We price off the borough and the bedroom, never off the regional headline.
The spread the average hides — annual change by borough, year to May 2026
| The boroughs we work | Average | Annual | 1 bed | 2 bed | 3 bed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Newham | £1,923 | +5.2% | £1,626 | £1,988 | £2,202 |
| Greenwich | £1,952 | +4.4% | £1,529 | £1,891 | £2,192 |
| Tower Hamlets | £2,419 | +2.4% | £1,964 | £2,385 | £2,709 |
| Camden | £2,759 | -2.2% | £2,008 | £2,563 | £2,989 |
If your property is in inner, prime London, test the renewal figure before you assume last year’s rent still holds — the top of the market has softened. If it’s in an outer regeneration borough, the market has moved up around you and a review may be overdue. In every case the bedroom count matters as much as the postcode. Bring us the address and we’ll price the property, not the region.
The ONS print
The official record, from settled tenancies. Authoritative, but roughly six weeks behind the street. Everything above comes from here.
Asking rents
Where new listings are being pitched today. Weeks ahead of the ONS, but a wish, not a deal. We read it as a direction, not a level.
Our own ledger
What our own applicants and lets are doing this week — time-to-let, offers against asking, demand per viewing. Ours alone. Read in at sign-off.
Sources & method
- All figures: ONS Price Index of Private Rents (PIPR) — the successor to the Index of Private Housing Rental Prices, an official statistic since 20 May 2026.
- Release covered: 17 June 2026. Reference period: data to May 2026. Next release: 22 July 2026.
- Geography: national to local-authority level; borough figures are the ONS series for each named London borough.
- Method: ONS estimates rents by hedonic double-imputation across the private rental stock. We report its figures and add our reading; we do not compute an index of our own.
- Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Cite this page
For analysts, valuers and students — cite as:
A permanent, dated edition. It will not be altered after sign-off except by a logged correction.