Average Rent In London For Tenants In 2026
Average London rent has hit £2,260-£2,300 a month, which is up 5-7% from last year. Zones 3-4 are seeing the sharpest rises as tenants get pushed further from the centre. Prices vary sharply by borough and property type, and landlords may be pricing renewals below what the market is now paying. This guide provided by the property management company breaks down exactly what you will pay, where, and what is driving the numbers up.
What is the average rent in London right now?
The latest ONS Price Index of Private Rents (March 2026) shows that the average rent in London is now £2,280 per month. That’s a rise of just 1.7% year-on-year, the slowest growth of any region in England. Rents in the capital have effectively hit an affordability ceiling after years of steep rises.
Kensington and Chelsea have the highest average rent in London, £3,599 a month. Boros on the outskirts of the city, such as Bexley, are well below the London average. The sample size in the City of London is too small to be reliably reported, and so official rent statistics exclude the City of London itself.
Average Rent London by Property Type
Property size is one of the biggest factors behind London’s wide rent range, and the second one is the location itself. As covered above, Inner London averages £3,299 a month against £2,418 in Outer London.
The gap widens or narrows depending on how many bedrooms you need. The breakdown below shows how studios, one-beds, two-beds, and larger homes typically compare across the capital.
Average Studio & 1-Bed Flat Rent
Smaller properties are likely to be at the lower end of the London scale and are closer to the Outer London average of £2,418 a month than the Inner London average. A studio or 1-bed in a well-connected Inner London postcode can still climb up towards the top of the market. Location often matters more than size when it comes to price. Renters willing to look a little further from the centre tend to find the best savings.
Average 2-Bed Flat Rent
Two-bedroom flats are the most common property type let in London, and tend to most closely follow the citywide averages already covered. Here we see the same inner and outer split, but the gap between the two becomes more pronounced as flats get bigger. A 2-bed in Zone 1 or 2 can easily cost twice as much as the same layout out toward the edges of the network.
Average 3-Bed & House Rent
A 3-bedroom house in London normally rents for somewhere between £2,000 and £3,500+ a month. The wide range reflects how much location and property type affect price at this size. As with smaller properties, the biggest gap is between central and outer boroughs. Outer London tends to sit at the cheaper end of that range, while homes closer to the centre push well past it.
Average Room Rent in a House Share
The average room rent in Inner London is £979 a month (SpareRoom Rental Index, Q2 2026), reflecting the house-share market rather than renting a whole property. Prices vary by area, but East London postcodes like E16 (Canning Town) average close to the inner London figure, while central postcodes such as EC and WC run well above it.
| London Area | Average Monthly Room Rent |
| EC (City) | £1,281 |
| WC | £1,313 |
| W | £1,043 |
| SW | £1,039 |
| NW | £977 |
| SE | £961 |
| N | £937 |
| E | £933 |
| Inner London average | £979 |
Average Rent London by Borough
Depending on which of London’s 32 boroughs you are looking at, rents vary enormously. The most recent Zoopla rental figures, for December 2025 to January 2026, show the average London tenant now pays £2,224 per month.
But that figure masks a gap of almost £1,850 between the most and least expensive boroughs. The best value is still to be found in the outer boroughs of south and east London, while the traditional inner-London hotspots are still very much out of reach for most renters.
| Borough | Average Rent (pcm) | Rank |
| Croydon | £1,617 | Cheapest |
| Sutton | £1,628 | 2nd cheapest |
| Bexley | £1,638 | 3rd cheapest |
| Having | £1,703 | 4th cheapest |
| Bromley | £1,714 | 5th cheapest |
| London average | £2,224 | — |
| Westminster | ~£3,122* | Near top |
| Kensington & Chelsea | £3,459 | Most expensive |
Is Rent in London Going Up or Down in 2026?
Rents in London are still rising in 2026, but the pace has slowed right down. ONS figures show annual rent inflation at 1.7% to March 2026, the slowest growth of any region in England. And Zoopla’s tracker puts it slightly higher at 2.2%. Renters have basically hit their limit after years of steep price rises since the pandemic.
Central boroughs like Westminster, Camden and Kensington and Chelsea have actually seen rents fall over the past year. Tenants priced out of central London are moving further out instead. This shift is pushing rents up faster in outer boroughs, even as the citywide average slows to a crawl.
Most forecasters expect this modest growth to continue through 2026, with Zoopla predicting around 2% to 3%, well below the double-digit rises seen in 2023 and 2024.
Conclusion
Average London rent now sits at around £2,280 a month, and while it’s still going up, growth has slowed to its lowest pace in years. Where you land depends heavily on borough and property size, from around £1,600 in Croydon to well over £3,300 in Kensington and Chelsea.
If you are a landlord, it’s worth checking your rent against what the market is currently paying rather than guessing. A quick valuation can show you exactly where your property stands.
