Rents Unchanged After Falling for Nine Months Says Property Portal

The BBC reports that after nine months of consecutive falls in asking prices that rental prices have stabilised. According to the report typical asking rents for residential property increased by 0.3% in London from April to May..

This is hardly surprising. The summer months are traditionally the busiest time of the year for letting property in London. We'll be posting actual numbers for asking prices vs agreed prices for flats and houses let in London during May 2009 in the next week or so to give a snapshot of the reality of the London lettings market - rather than the expectation as evidenced by asking prices alone.

We don't believe there are any conclusions to be drawn from today's news - other than the weather's getting warmer and it's a nice time to think about a move. Stock levels are uncomfortably high for the time of year, and we'd expect prices to rise by at least 0.3% from April - May on any given year. Of more interest is the fact that we have already exceeded 2008's figures for lettings both by number of transactions and total value of business agreed. People are renting in increasing numbers for reasons already examined at length.

For landlords in serach of green shoots as well as tenants anticipating rents falling further it's still too early to call.