Kensington and Chelsea tops London private rent league

Housing

​​​​​​​£2,708 per month for two-bedroom flat in Kensington and Chelsea tops London private rent league while £1,025 per month in Bexley is London's lowest rents

If employers don't respond with higher pay they will face staff shortages as workers, especially younger people, are priced out of housing market, says GMB London

A study by GMB has found that median rent for a two-bedroom flat in Kensington and Chelsea is now £2,708 per month, making it the most expensive area in 33 London boroughs for rents for private sector two-bedroom flats. Rents in the area have risen 8.7% since 2011 but have decreased by 10.7% in the past 12 months. 

This compares with the median monthly rent for a two-bedroom flat across London of £1450, up by 21.7% since 2011 and down 3.3% in the last 12 months. 

There are two other areas in London where the median monthly rent for a private two-bedroom flat is over £2000. These are Westminster £2,708 and City of London £2,297. The median monthly rent in all boroughs is over £1000.

The lowest median monthly rent for a private two-bedroom flat at £1,025 is in Bexley. The increase since 2011 has been 28.9%, but that has not changed over the last 12 months.

The figures for all 33 boroughs in London are set out in the table below. Set out in notes to editors below are the sources and definitions for the figures. 

Warren Kenny, GMB Regional Secretary said:

“These official figures show increases in average rents for two-bedroom flats of 30% or higher in 14 of the 33 London boroughs in the six years since 2011. The average increase for all the boroughs is 21.7%.

“These high rents are here to stay. So too are younger workers living for longer in private sector rental accommodation. 

“As a direct consequence, employers must be prepared to pay much higher wages to staff to enable them to afford these much higher rents. 

“If employers don't respond with higher pay they will face staff shortages as workers, especially younger people, are priced out of housing market. 

“It makes little sense for these workers to spend a full week at work only to pay most of their earnings in rents. They will vote with their feet. 

“Policy mistakes have made the housing position for lower paid workers worse. Council homes for rents at reasonable levels were aimed at housing the families of workers in the lower pay grades and did it successfully for generations.

“These were sold off -  but crucially not replaced as a matter of Tory dogma. Housing benefits was introduced instead to help pay rents for those on lower paid and the costs to the taxpayer has ballooned to over £24 billion a year. It would have been far cheaper to build the council homes. 

“The chickens are now coming home to roost on these policy mistakes. There is a massive shortage of homes for rent at reasonable rents for workers in the lower pay grades. There is now no alternative to higher pay to pay these higher rents plus a step change upwards in building homes for rent at reasonable rents. 

“Dogmatic opposition to allowing councils to build homes for rent is a luxury we can't afford. So too are plans by property developers and councils to demolish over 100 council estates in London and replace them with luxury housing. This is why GMB is supporting the protest at City Hall on November 3rd of residents on 34 estates denied ballots on the demolition of their estates.

“Earlier this year ONS projected London's population growing to nearly 11 million by 2040. To make up for the current shortage of homes for rent at reasonable rents and to house this growing population is one of the most pressing challenges facing London.

“Higher pay especially for younger workers is now one essential part of the solution."

ENDS

Contact: Vaughan West 07967 342 197 or Tony Warr 07710 631 336 or Keith Williams 07710 631 339 or GMB London Press Office 07970 114 762

Notes to Editors

1 Source: Private Rental Market Summary Statistics; Valuation Office Agency © Crown copyright 2018.

The data is collected by the Valuation Office captured during the course of Rent Officers’ statutory responsibilities to administer functions related to Housing Benefit (LHA and LRR schemes) and Universal Credit on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions.

Landlords and letting agents provide VOA Rent Officers with data about the properties they let. This information is captured electronically in the VOA’s lettings information database. Checks are carried out at the point of entry to ensure that any Housing Benefit funded tenancies are excluded from this database.

Two-bedroom self-contained properties with two-bedrooms including houses, bungalows, flats and maisonettes.

2011 data is for the 12 months to the end of June 2011

2018 data is for the 12 months to the end of March 2018