London · Data · Office for National Statistics

London private rents average £2,338 a month, up 3.5% in a year, as UK rents rise 3.8% to £1,406, ONS figures for September 2026 show

The Office for National Statistics published its monthly bulletin on private rents and house prices on 21 October. Average UK private rent rose 3.8% in the 12 months to September 2026, to £1,406 a month, the same annual rate as in August. London remains the most expensive English region at £2,338 a month, but its 3.5% annual rise is, together with the South East, the lowest in England.

Al Mithaq news desk · Published 21 October 2026 · Source: Office for National Statistics

A modern block of rented flats with balconies and coloured panels in Hackney, east London, under a clear blue sky. Picture: Tom Page, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0

£1,406average UK private rent a month in September 2026, up 3.8% in a year

£2,338average London rent, the highest English region, up 3.5%

£3,739Kensington and Chelsea, the highest average rent of any local area in the country

The national picture

The Office for National Statistics publishes the bulletin each month. Its provisional estimate puts the average UK private rent at £1,406 a month in September 2026, £52 or 3.8% more than a year earlier, with the annual rate unchanged from August. England averaged £1,466, up 4.0% or £56; Wales £848, up 4.1%, down from 4.3% in August; and Scotland £1,011, up 0.7%, down from 1.1% in August and the lowest annual change reported for Scotland since the series began in January 2016. In Northern Ireland, where the data run to July 2026, the average was £879, up 1.7%. Across the UK, detached homes had the highest average rent at £1,597 and flats and maisonettes the lowest at £1,371; homes with four or more bedrooms averaged £2,089 and one-bedroom homes £1,140.

London and the English regions

London had the highest average rent of any English region at £2,338 a month, and the North East the lowest at £790. London's annual rent inflation was 3.5%, unchanged from August, and together with the South East, which rose from 3.0% to 3.5%, it was the lowest rate in England. The North West had the highest rate, 5.7%, down from 5.8% in August. Among local areas, Kensington and Chelsea in London had the highest average monthly rent in the country at £3,739, Oxford the highest outside London at £1,957, and Dumfries and Galloway in Scotland the lowest at £556.

Rents up, London prices down

The same bulletin carries the house price figures that HM Land Registry published this morning: the average UK house price rose 0.9% in the 12 months to August 2026, to £273,000, which the ONS describes as the fourth consecutive month of slowing, while London had the lowest annual change of any English region, a fall of 2.2%, driven by a 5.0% drop in the average price of flats; the South East was the only other English region where prices fell, by 0.8%. The rent figures come from the Price Index of Private Rents, which covers the whole UK and measures rent inflation for new and existing tenancies, using achieved rents in England and Wales and advertised lets in Scotland and Northern Ireland; the latest two months of rent estimates are provisional and may be revised. The next bulletin is due on 18 November 2026.

Why it mattersOur view for a Kuwaiti owner who lets a London flat: rents are still rising while prices have slipped. The average London rent rose 3.5% in a year, while the average London home lost 2.2% and the average London flat 5.0% over the year to August, in HM Land Registry's index published this morning. Two cautions. The ONS average covers existing tenancies as well as new lets, so it moves more slowly than the asking rents in listings and says nothing about one particular flat. And the dearest rents are in central London, where Kensington and Chelsea averages £3,739 a month, yet the same borough recorded one of the largest price falls in this morning's index. So before buying to let, ask for the rents of comparable flats in the same building rather than the borough average, budget for service charges and for the 20% basic-rate tax that a letting agent withholds from a non-resident landlord's rent, and read these figures as a record of what has happened, not a forecast of what comes next.

What Al Mithaq adds

For an owner who lets a London home from Kuwait, our guide to HMRC's Non-Resident Landlord Scheme explains how the rent is taxed and how to apply to receive it without the 20% withholding. Our London guide lists the 14 developments we offer from London Square, an Aldar company, and Arada London, from £335,000, with the six steps from reservation to keys and the stamp duty worked through. Tell our team in Kuwait your budget and whether the home is to live in or to let, and we will send current prices and plans.