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It's very rare to have some good news about renting in London, but flat sharing website SpareRoom has managed to come up with a stat that isn't totally depressing. According to the company's London Rental Index, the city's seemingly never-ending rent increases could be winding down, as rent has risen by just 1 percent year on year in the second quarter of 2016, compared to 8 percent between 2014 and 2015. Okay, it's not amazing news, but it's heading in the right direction.
Although the decrease was just 1 percent overall, the report showed a third of London's postcode districts have fallen year on year, with decreases of 4 percent in north-west London and 2 percent in east-central and west-central London. Which is bad news for those smug landlords with buy-to-let mortgages, but good news for pretty much everyone else.
The research also looked at the cheapest and most expensive areas to rent a room in London and found that the priciest rooms were in St Paul’s, EC4, while the cheapest rooms were in Eltham, SE9. All but one of the ten cheapest postcodes to rent a room were in east or south-east London.
The figures show that east London is the best bet for renters, as rooms in this area make up almost half of London's total supply. Turns out quirky pop-ups and craft beer aren't the only reason people are flocking to east London – who knew?
Want more property maps? This tube map shows how unaffordable renting in London is
And this one shows the average property prices at every London Underground station