A flat in Notting Hill is available to rent for £900 per month, but there’s a catch. The space in the top-floor apartment is so small that the tiny kitchenette is directly next to the toilet and the flat has no oven.
Instead, photos of the studio flat on Westbourne Park Road show a fridge, cupboards and a microwave secured to the wall. In the opposite corner a double bed and bedside table are placed beneath the flat’s single window.
A dining table and two chairs sit at the end of the bed and next to the kitchen counter.
The listing on Open Rent says: “The double studio comes with its own kitchen area, own shower and WC. Located moments away from the great amenities of Westbourne Grove and offers easy access to Portobello Road and Queensway.”
The average price of a studio flat in Notting Hill is currently around £1,250 per month (£260-£300 a week), while one-bedroom flats are on average £2,150 per month (start at £450 a week). Two-bedroom flats can be anything from £550 a week to £1,200 a week depending on their size, averaging at around £3,700 a month.
The cost of renting has risen to a record high since Londoners began the post-pandemic move back to the city.
London rents have increased by 22.5 per cent in the year to January 2022, while there were 67 per cent fewer homes on the market in the same period.
Jackie Krakutovska, lettings manager at Hamptons International, says the increase in people wanting to rent in Notting Hill has been huge, while supply of homes to rent is at its lowest.
“We’ve never had less properties on the market at this point of the year,” she said. “The supply is the lowest we’ve ever seen it.”
“There’s a very, very low stock supply in our area in particular. I’ve done lettings for 20 years and never seen anything like it.”
Knight Frank reports that rental values in London and the Home Counties have climbed to five per cent above their pre-pandemic level. In prime central London specifically rents rose 19.8 per cent year-on-year, the biggest jump since 1995.
Gary Hall, head of lettings at Knight Frank adds: “It’s a tough time to be a tenant at the moment, rents are rising and the availability of stock is low, which means transaction volumes are lower. That said, we believe stock levels should start to improve later this year.”
