Homes within a 10-minute walk of a Tube or train station are at the top of the list for London’s growing number of renters. In this new series focusing on the capital’s rental hotspots, we uncover the best-value areas for tenants to snap up a home.
Waterfront living: homes at Johnson’s Lock, on Regent’s Canal near Mile End Park in Bow. The park is a green spine through the area, reaching the Thames at Limehouse.
Renting has become a well-established London way of life – changing the capital’s housing market. It is a similar story across the country, with the number of people renting in the UK almost doubling from 2.5 million a decade ago to 4.8 million today. A further 1.1 million are expected to join the rental sector during the next five years.
About 30 per cent of all households rent in the capital, and half of 20- to 35-year-old Londoners not only rent now, but expect that renting will be the norm in the future.
This shift to private renting may appear to go against the nation’s emotional attachment to home ownership but rental Britain is clearly here to stay, driven by the high property prices that currently exclude many would-be buyers.
People today are also getting married and starting families much later in life, so the average first-time buyer age has crept up from 27 in the Eighties to 37 now.
About 30 per cent of all households rent in the capital, and half of 20- to 35-year-old Londoners not only rent now, but expect that renting will be the norm in the future.
This shift to private renting may appear to go against the nation’s emotional attachment to home ownership but rental Britain is clearly here to stay, driven by the high property prices that currently exclude many would-be buyers.
People today are also getting married and starting families much later in life, so the average first-time buyer age has crept up from 27 in the Eighties to 37 now.
A CHANCE TO LIVE CENTRAL
Employment patterns are changing, too, with people switching jobs and their working location more frequently, which puts a premium on flexibility. In London, tenants can often rent more centrally than they could afford to buy.
The capital’s rental market is also boosted by the increasing number of single households here, and by the influx of economic migrants and the growth in the number of divorcees and students.
Britons are not newcomers to renting. It was a popular way to live after the Second World War and remained a comfortable option until the end of the Sixties.
However, it acquired a downmarket image after a string of scandals involving rogue landlords. Tight new legislation followed and the sector’s reputation has been largely restored — yet London’s rental market has never enjoyed the steady upward trajectory seen in Continental Europe’s major cities, including Paris, Berlin, Brussels and Amsterdam, where up to 60 per cent of households happily rent privately, with many families living in the same rented house for generations.
The capital’s rental market is also boosted by the increasing number of single households here, and by the influx of economic migrants and the growth in the number of divorcees and students.
Britons are not newcomers to renting. It was a popular way to live after the Second World War and remained a comfortable option until the end of the Sixties.
However, it acquired a downmarket image after a string of scandals involving rogue landlords. Tight new legislation followed and the sector’s reputation has been largely restored — yet London’s rental market has never enjoyed the steady upward trajectory seen in Continental Europe’s major cities, including Paris, Berlin, Brussels and Amsterdam, where up to 60 per cent of households happily rent privately, with many families living in the same rented house for generations.
