Here's where to look for London's slowest-rising room rents

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It’s no secret that rents have sky-rocketed since Covid, but recent research from SpareRoom shows what’s happening at a local level, drilling down to specific postcodes, to reveal the fastest- and slowest-growing rental markets in inner London.

On first glance, there appears to be no clear pattern, with traditionally more affordable and expensive areas appearing in both categories. Looking closer though, and it’s evident that local, micro factors are at play.

Bethnal Green’s E2 postcode topped the list of locations where rents have gone up the quickest over the last five years. The postcode spans Bethnal Green, Haggerston, Cambridge Heath, and parts of Shoreditch, and has seen a 56.3 per cent uplift during this time. At the end of 2020, rents here were £706 a month, below the average monthly London rent at the time of £721, but, today, the area’s popularity means you can expect to pay £1,104 a month to rent here, 12 per cent higher than London’s current average of £985.

Matt Hutchinson, director of flatshare site SpareRoom, believes that E2’s initial affordability is behind its current popularity. “Back in 2020, E2 was an affordable London postcode with below-average rent. That made it a target for the many renters who were looking to reduce their living costs in the period of intense demand that forced rents up post-pandemic.”

Second on the list was W8, a very different area to E2, with a contrasting rental demographic. This postcode covers Holland Park, Kensington and Campden Hill, and saw a 54.4 per cent increase in rents over the same five-year period, from £933 a month in 2020 to £1,442 in 2025, making it one of the most expensive places to rent in the capital. The reasons for its rental increase are very different to those of E2.

“An acute shortage of rental homes, combined with exceptionally strong demand from affluent tenants, has created a clear imbalance in Holland Park’s rental market and driven values sharply higher,” says Louise Good, head of lettings in Savills Kensington. “Holland Park’s predominantly owner-occupied, Conservation-Area streets — coupled with its access to green space, excellent schools, strong transport links and enduring prime-neighbourhood appeal — continues to fuel intense competition for every available property or room.” It’s likely to be a similar story for those renting in the third postcode on this list, W1, the West End, where rents were up 54.2 per cent, from £946 to £1,458.

Table: 10 London postcodes with highest five-year rent change

London postcode	Area	Average room rent Q4 2025	Average room rent Q4 2020	5-year rent change
E2	Bethnal Green	£1,104	£706	56.3%
W8	Holland Park	£1,442	£933	54.4%
W1	West End	£1,458	£946	54.2%
NW1	Regent’s Park, St Pancras	£1,273	£835	52.5%
SE27	West Norwood	£932	£616	51.2%
WC2	Strand, Holborn	£1,488	£988	50.6%
SE2	Abbey Wood	£814	£541	50.5%
W9	Maida Vale, Paddington	£1,153	£767	50.3%
N1	Angel	£1,162	£781	48.9%
E16	Victoria Docks, North Woolwich	£1,034	£700	47.8%
	Inner London	£985	£721	36.6%

“The supply constraints at this level of the market, combined the competitive nature of the student sector — which is at its peak between May and October — has been a major player when it comes to the rising rental prices in W1,” says Guy Spencer, head of lettings in Savills Mayfair. “Affordability pressures, particularly in prime central London, are also pushing more people towards shared accommodation. As a result, we’re seeing a shift from studios to rooms in shared homes. With limited opportunities for new development and high redevelopment costs further restricting supply, this imbalance has intensified, ultimately placing additional upward pressure on rental values.”

Other interesting entries in the fastest-growing Top 10 include Abbey Wood, one of the most affordable places to rent in Inner London, where rents have increased 50.5 per cent from £541 to £814. This huge increase is likely down to its affordability and the opening of the Elizabeth Line in May 2022, improving its connectivity and making it more popular with those after a quick commute. West Norwood has also seen a disproportionate rise. “Demand for cheaper pockets like West Norwood — most likely spillover from flat-sharers priced out of places like Clapham and Streatham — is pushing up rents there,” adds Hutchinson.

The postcode with the lowest rent change since 2020 was N12, incorporating North Finchley, Woodside Park, and parts of Friern Barnet.

Here rents have increased by 22.1 per cent since 2020, from £687 to £839. Other areas with slower-than-average rent increases include Herne Hill’s SE24, up 25.6 per cent from £711 to £893, and Highbury, N5, with increases of 26.1 per cent, from £809 to £1,020.

Table: 10 London postcodes with lowest five-year rent change

London postcode	Area	Average room rent Q4 2025	Average room rent Q4 2020	5-year rent change
N12	North Finchley	£839	£687	22.1%
SE24	Herne Hill	£893	£711	25.6%
N5	Highbury	£1,020	£809	26.1%
E4	Chingford	£768	£607	26.6%
N10	Muswell Hill	£874	£682	28.0%
E18	South Woodford	£838	£650	28.8%
SW14	Mortlake	£897	£692	29.6%
SW5	Earl’s Court, West Brompton	£1,257	£968	29.8%
SW3	Chelsea	£1,341	£1,033	29.8%
SE5	Camberwell	£904	£691	30.8%
	Inner London	£985	£721	36.6%

The London rental outlook

On average, Inner London rents have risen by 37 per cent, from £721 per month at the end of 2020 to £985 in 2025, a marginal decrease from their peak of £1,015, reached in Q4 2023.

Savills research believes the average rent-to-income ratio will drop to 36.9, by the end of this year, from a high of 39.4 in 2024, suggesting that wage growth is catching up with rents, which grew so much after the pandemic. This year also sees the introduction of the long-awaited Renters Reform Act in May but, if tenants are hoping this leads to rental decreases, they’ll be sorely disappointed; Marsh & Parsons are predicting rent rises of between 5 and 7 per cent in 2026 as demand continues to out-strip supply.

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Here’s where to look for London’s slowest-rising room rents

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