Foxtons saw demand for rental accommodation pick up in the second quarter of 2017, although it is still below the end of last year.

The agent’s latest London Lettings Report showed there were 6.3 renters per new instruction in the second quarter, up from 6.1 in the first three months of the year.

But this is still below the 6.5 reported at the end of 2016.

An uptick in supply also saw rents fall 3% overall year-on-year.

Based on London Underground areas, rents in Zone 1 fell from £573 to £556 a week on average and from £455 to £450 in Zone 2.

Rents fell by the most in Zone 3, slipping from £403 to £384 a week.

The research also identified a slight increase in the proportion of renters from Asia and the Middle East, up 3.9% to 13.1%. Domestic renters remained the largest proportion of all renters, despite their share sliding from 41.2% to 39% over the quarter.

Ed Phillips, managing director of lettings for Foxtons, said: “We’ve spoken before about how the lettings market traditionally benefits from uncertainty in the sales market, as potential buyers turn to the flexibility offered by renting.

“With the sales market in the capital still a long way from returning to consistently strong growth, an increasing number of Londoners are indeed being drawn to the rental sector. This is demonstrated by a 3.3% increase in the average number of renters registered with Foxtons for every new property instructed.

“While this might not appear to be a significant increase, it comes against a backdrop of decline, suggesting that green shoots are starting to appear.”