Updating post from Reddit.
I’m a tenant living in a commuter town near London. When I first moved here, in 2022, the rental market was crazy—flats were getting snapped up within hours, and I had to pay a deposit just to secure a viewing.
Fast forward a 2025, and things seem… different. I’ve noticed at least four flats listed on Rightmove in my building, and they’ve been sitting there for a while. No takers, apparently.
Is anyone else noticing this shift? Is the rental market starting to cool down, or is this just specific to my town? Curious to hear what others are seeing, especially in and around London.
Yes. I work in the industry. Demand is down in London and surrounding areas.
Clarify what you mean by this. If you're an estate agent for example, then turnover might be slowing down, leading to you placing less people, e.g. less people are moving house, but from a landlord perspective, the most important aspect is the broad demand for housing.
Have we seen a general reduction in people in certain areas?
Yes. International student numbers are through the floor. And the numbers have quite a lead in time - expect 2026 to be a hell of a lot worse as the increase of time it takes from 5 to 10 years to get citizenship impacts things.
And the truth is when British people see rents go down they will want even less immigration. I got out a few years ago, I suggest you do the same
So is this not good news for regular people in London struggling to find a decent place to rent? I'm french but technically an immigrant myself, I don't really get your reasoning, is it better to have a lot more students who don't necessarily have a great economic impact on the short term? They might stay in the country to work but I would be curious to actually see how many are going back home or to another country as they will probably struggle to rent or pay back their student loan with the prices here in London.
I think massive immigration is clearly good for existing landlords and bad for society. When the country had 50k high skilled eu migrants, or even 250k, society could largely cope, almost 1 million a year from the third world is just silly.
We do agree on that point, skilled workers are great for landlords, they're the one working high paying jobs and able to pay a year of rent when most people live paycheck to paycheck. They bring the market up and make rent unaffordable in areas of London that were still considered shady not even 10yrs ago, now it's gentrification all around the corners to attract those high earners... And it looks like they're all slowly leaving 😬
The third world immigrants you're mentioning are the ones taking jobs that even most young Brits would not do because the pay is shit, that's the only way for most companies to stay afloat and be competitive. They're also the only ones to fill the gap for houses that no one else really wants, house sharing in shitty conditions for a good chunk, I know because I've been there, with them.
I pay my rent to a private landlord in a council estate, the irony of this reflects how bad the government has failed, way before I even stepped in this country.
The real issue is not the immigrants, it's how a small chunk of people have been filling their pockets and allows landlords to make investments that are always profitable.
I wish this government would freeze rent to allow people to afford a decent place to stay, for anyone, born here or abroad.
Let the rich leave so we can see some redistribution of wealth lol.
We do agree on that point, skilled workers are great for landlords, they're the one working high paying jobs and able to pay a year of rent when most people live paycheck to paycheck. They bring the market up and make rent unaffordable in areas of London that were still considered shady not even 10yrs ago, now it's gentrification all around the corners to attract those high earners... And it looks like they're all slowly leaving 😬
The third world immigrants you're mentioning are the ones taking jobs that even most young Brits would not do because the pay is shit, that's the only way for most companies to stay afloat and be competitive. They're also the only ones to fill the gap for houses that no one else really wants, house sharing in shitty conditions for a good chunk, I know because I've been there, with them.
I pay my rent to a private landlord in a council estate, the irony of this reflects how bad the government has failed, way before I even stepped in this country.
The real issue is not the immigrants, it's how a small chunk of people have been filling their pockets and allows landlords to make investments that are always profitable.
I wish this government would freeze rent to allow people to afford a decent place to stay, for anyone, born here or abroad.
Let the rich leave so we can see some redistribution of wealth lol.
Not seen that but it’s probably a good thing for the community
I think people are just staying long term and not moving for fear of not being able to get anywhere.
100% this. I really want to move but my landlord is good. Market rate for my flat should be £800-£850 but he's charging me £675 fixed for the next 16 months. I'm saving every penny i can to take advantage of this situation. Most people i know who are renting are staying put because going back to market is too expensive.
I'm in a small town on the edge of the Cotswolds. Things are certainly cooling off here.
The best properties are still going in days. But stuff that's blatantly over priced or not very good is sitting.
I strongly suspect affordability criteria has a lot to do with it. And a lot of landlords have now tied themselves into a complete knot. The agents are further fanning the flames since many are obviously encouraging landlords to over price properties. One property I've been watching went on in April, at £1550 pcm. It's still available, was reduced to £1350 3 weeks ago, it's still available.
The house is poky new build in a village with nothing in it.
I looked in to moving back to a small town on the edge of the Cotswolds to help look after my ageing parents - Turns out that the rent there is higher than the greater manchester area, which is absolutely batty. Town's got fuck all going for it except a rather shitty direct line to London and.. the edge of the Cotswolds.
London is completely detached from the rest of the country. Although other areas are still high demand. 2/3 bed houses won’t go for less than around £1000 a month.
They are less than £1000 pm in Newcastle!
Nearly twice that in most of Hampshire
more demand, i guess
I can only comment from my experience but I feel like every week I see companies closing down or doing layoffs. The unemployment rate among higher earners is quite high and these people are more likely to afford rents. So I think we are slowly but surely reaching the point where folks can’t afford to rent - especially in London or around it. Tho, I don’t think it is a new thing per se. Last year I was renting a double bed flat with my friend and our rent was around 2200. We decided to leave and the landlord decided that he will try to rent the same place for 2600. Most places in the area were around 2100 (so we already overpaid). How many individuals or couples can put 2600 (not even including tax or other bills).
Yes it's definitely slowed down a bit. The landlords aren't adjusting the prices to reflect this because 'they achieved this price last year' as they believe the rents just endlessly rise forever. There seems to be more stock about as well so applicants are looking at more before making a decision. I also expect that the looming reform bill is making people who don't have to move sit on their hands and see what comes of it.
Source - worked in the industry for the last 12 years
Yups they are not reducing the price, Flats are siting in my building for 1600-1700 for two bed. So far one has reduced from 1650 to 1600.
It's varies area to area. Where I am now it's picking up as all the students are looking to find somewhere for next academic year now same with most other student towns/ cities.
Yeah I remember 2022, it was a spike that's been cooling off the last couple of years.
https://www.zoopla.co.uk/discover/property-news/rental-market-report/
According to Zoopla the number of people looking per home available is still higher than pre-pandemic levels but it's down 42% on the spike. This is country-wide though I believe.
There's an interesting tidbit in there which is that London rental inflation is now as low as 1%, so it looks like London may have cooled off a lot more than other areas, but that could just be a rebalancing after it spiked so much.
Hopefully