Growing number of pre-lets indicate strength of London rental market

High end agency JLL says it’s seen a consistent rise in London owners becoming landlords, with a 15.3 per cent increase across the capital in the first eight months of 2019 compared to the same period last year. 

The single biggest hotspot is Stratford when there has been a remarkable 47.2 per cent rise in properties to let: the agency says this is “owing to a swathe of new-build properties across higher, middle and lower price points.”

An even more startling 98.8 per cent rise has been seen over the course of a year by JLL’s City of London office.

Set against the rising stock, the agency claims there’s been a 36.7 per cent growth in the number of applicants registering with its 12 London offices.

Again Stratford is the leader - no fewer than a 125.7 per cent increase in new tenants on its books between the start of the year and the end of August, compared to the same time in 2018.

The firm’s head of residential agency, Lucy Morton, says multiple factors are at play. 

“We’re seeing huge interest in the one and two bed market across the city, owing in part to the success of London’s well-recognised universities in attracting students from around the world. But three and four bedroom properties are doing just as well” she says.

One developing trend, she says, is that appears to be an increasing number of applicants willing to ‘pre-let’ their new homes, renting new apartments off plan.

JLL has seen 41 pre-lets at The Atlas Building, on City Road, from studios to three-bedroom apartments.