The pace of rental growth slowed slightly in May for prime London, says data consultancy LonRes. 

Activity remains limited by a lack of availability, though new instructions showed signs of picking up.  

In that month there was an annual decrease of 21.7% in lets agreed and a 5.2% decrease in new instructions across prime London.  

Both measures continue to record figures well below their typical pre-pandemic levels.  While new instructions still fell on an annual basis, this was the best monthly performance of the year so far by a significant margin.  There were 4.6% fewer properties available to rent at the end of May than a year earlier, and 62.4% fewer than five years ago. 

Average rents across prime London increased by 3.3% in May on an annual basis, down from a revised 5.0% in April.  Annual growth has been in this low single-digit range since the start of 2024, recording rises between 1% and 6% for 18 consecutive months.  Rents across prime London are now 32.9% above their 2017-2019 (pre-pandemic) average. 

Time on the market data gives an additional indication of the strength of demand.  Across prime London and for all price points, the average time between listing and move-in was 67 days in May.  

This is slightly slower than the 65 days recorded last May, but quicker than the average of 69 through 2017 to 2019.  

Broken down by rental values, there is a clear distinction between properties either side of the £2,000 per week price point.  Above this, average time to let has increased from 101 to 113 days over the past 12 months, back in line with pre-pandemic trends.  At lower price points time to let is still reducing, indicating strong demand.