According to property services company Chesterton Humberts, there has been a 12% increase in the supply of rental properties in the prime areas of the capital in the last 12 months.

This bump in supply, combined with a reduction in demand from tenants as a result in shrinking corporate relocation budgets, rising redundancies in the financial services industry and wider mortgage availability, means that landlords are having to be more flexible and do deals in order to secure tenants.

Nick Barnes, Head of Research at Chesterton Humberts, said:  

“The prime residential lettings market remains active, however with buy-to-let landlords bringing more stock onto the market, tenants now have a wider choice and consequently greater bargaining power. This is forcing landlords to be more flexible in order to attract and retain tenants, which is often resulting in downwards pressure on rents.”