London rents saw a glimmer of recovery in 2017, rising into positive territory for the first time in close to two years.
Rent in the British capital increased 1.2% in the fourth quarter of 2017 compared to the year prior, according to a report property site Rightmove released Thursday at 12 a.m. GMT. The average asking rent is now £1,930 (US$2,607).
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"After a few years of falling rents in London they’re back on the up again, due to a combination of tightening stock available to rent and strong demand," said Miles Shipside, Rightmove’s director and housing market analyst.
Rental prices in London have been slipping steadily since the beginning of 2016, as part of a market correction. Prior to that, London’s overheated rental market saw prices rising as much as 8% in 2014, according to the report.
Investors gobbled up rental properties in the run-up to the stamp duty increases on purchasing second-homes that went into effect in mid-2016. That created a surplus of rental units in the market that have finally been absorbed, the report said.
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A few commuter areas outside of London saw exceptional growth in 2017.
Farnham, in the affluent county of Surrey, saw the strongest rental price growth in the U.K. in 2017, up 9%. The town of Corby in Northamptonshire came in second, with rents rising 8.2%.
By contrast, rental growth across the U.K. was more muted, rising only 0.7% in 2017.