Only 5 London postcodes now have common room rents beneath £800 per thirty days vs 81 pre-pandemic – this is the place they’re…

Only five London postcodes offers rooms to rent for less than £800 a month on average, new analysis reveals.

Monthly rental payments across the capital have fallen to £978 for a room – down from a record high of £1,015 at the end of 2023 – data from flat share website SpareRoom reveals.

But Londoners’ bank accounts continue to be squeezed as the number of cheap rental options has plummeted.

Just five postcodes now have sub-£800 rooms to rent, which has tumbled from 81 postcodes at the beginning of the pandemic.

Urban living has become once again soared in popularity since the end of the pandemic as commuters hunt for homes close to central offices instead of in rural areas.

East Ham is the cheapest place to rent a room in London at just £727 a month

The five cheapest locations are all in east or north London, with E6 (East Ham) taking the number one spot with rooms typically at £727 a month.

Next is E12 (Manor Park) at £731 and E4 (Chingford) at £731. After this is N18 (Upper Edmonton) at £774 and E7 (Forest Gate) at £781.

To bag a room in the remaining London postcodes, it’s likely you’ll need to shell out more than £800 a month.

While the average monthly rent across the city has fallen, a limited number of cheap options means renting in the capital is out of reach for many Londoners who are now being pushed to outer areas.

Matt Hutchinson, director at SpareRoom, says: ‘Years of intense demand on London’s limited rental stock has inflated prices and made cheap rents all too scarce.

‘Falling demand and slightly increased supply points to more renters being priced out of inner London, which is why we’re still seeing heightened demand in the suburbs and commuter belt.’

Decline: Just five London postcodes now have typical room rental prices below £800 p/m

Glamourous inner London areas are plummeting quickly in price as renters head to more affordable regions. 

‘These include SW3 (Chelsea), which fell by 12 per cent in one year, and SE23 (Forest Hill), which fell by 8 per cent. 

Mr Hutchinson adds: ‘In reality, there’s no such thing as cheap housing in London now. 

‘If you do manage to find a room at £800 per month – and these are increasingly endangered – you’d still need to be earning a salary of £32,000 a year to afford the rent.

‘This is over and above what many people in the capital earn, especially those just starting their careers.’

And that’s just in the cheapest areas. Head to the chicer areas of the capital and monthly rents double.

The most expensive area to rent a room is exclusive SW7 (South Kensington and Knightsbridge), a glamourous enclave of central London where an average room is £1,572.

Next is W8 (Holland Park) in West London where rooms are £1,528 and trailing closely behind is EC2 (Bishopsgate and Cheapside),an area of the financial district where rooms are £1,485.

Then it’s W1 (West End and Soho) for £1,446, SW3 (Chelsea) for £1,306, and SW5 (Earl’s Court/West Brompton) for £1,276.

The places with the biggest year-in-year rise include W8 (Holland Park), which saw a 10 per cent climb, and NW7 (Mill Hill), which rose by 9 per cent.