Good news for London's renters; bad news for the capital's buy-to-let investors: the average rent of a property in Greater London has fallen for the first time since February.
Average rents in the wider region fell by 0.2 per cent in the three months to September, according to HomeLet. That doesn't mean it's cheap: the average rent for a new tenancy in Greater London now stands at £1,555 per month, compared with £995 a month for the country as a whole.
And it's hardly the exception to the rest of the country. In fact for the three months to September 2015, every region of the UK with the exception of the East Midlands has seen annual rent price rises slow down or move into negative growth.
Throughout the country, annual rent price growth has slowed to a single-digits, matching the pace of house price growth in the UK having outpaced it for the previous nine months. Average rents are now 8.5 per cent higher than they were in 2014.
Rents in Scotland grew at the fastest pace over the year, up 8.4 per cent, compared with a 6.6 per cent increase in Greater London and a 7.7 per cent rise in the East Midlands.
Martin Totty, chief executive of HomeLet parent group Barbon, said: "The UK economy has dipped into 'negative inflation' which is a boost to consumers' spending power and, ultimately, their real income. Affordability is an important factor in determining rents.
"Depending on what happens with inflation and real incomes over the coming months, could have a bearing on future rental price trends especially where, in certain areas of the country, the supply of rental properties is not keeping pace with demand from those wishing to be private sector renters.”