According to Rightmove’s rental tracker, average asking rents in London reached £2,567, which was 28% higher than in 2019.

The report found that despite rising rent prices, rental homes were being “let at speed” and landlords were still being met with “long queues of prospective tenants wanting to view and rent their property”.

The average time to find a tenant is 17 days, which Rightmove said was the quickest since 2022.

Tenant demand is still high, and is 3% up on last year and 42% more than the same period in 2019.

The supply and demand gap has narrowed slightly, with available properties to rent up by 7% compared to last year. However, this is 42% down on 2019 figures.

Landlord concerns

Half of landlords (47%) said the Government’s sentiment towards the industry was a challenge, followed by 41% who cited rising taxation.

A third pointed to the increasing compliance requirements and a quarter said the rising cost of buy-to-let mortgages was a concern.

Rightmove said this was causing some landlords to sell up, as 16% of properties currently for sale were previously on the rental market, up from 13% in 2019.

A third of landlords with lower EPC-rated properties plan to sell them rather than make improvements, which is up from 20% of landlords who wanted to sell last year.

Landlords are prioritising good tenants, with 57% of landlords saying tenants are staying in properties for longer than 24 months.

Rightmove’s director of property science, Tim Bannister, said: “The number of available properties to rent continues to improve compared to last year’s record low levels providing tenants with more choice, though with a long way to go to catch up with pre-pandemic levels of stock, there will continue to be more tenants looking to move than properties for them to move to for a while yet.

“Average asking rents for new tenants have risen at a rapid pace since the pandemic reflecting the significant increase in demand, which is driven by a combination of factors including changed housing needs, such as some space to work from home.”

He added: “Landlords are currently having to navigate a multitude of challenges, but the data suggests it remains important to build long-term relationships with good tenants, with the majority of tenants choosing to stay in their property for longer than two years.”