Chestertons has released its latest monthly market data, which shows that increasing numbers of tenants took advantage of the lower rents across London to move in August, but the number of new tenants registering to move started to drop very slightly.

The company’s August data shows that nearly 15% more tenants moved into a new property compared to July and 25% more than August last year, giving Chestertons’ lettings department a record August for revenue – up 12% on last year.

However, although ‘move-ins’ increased, the number of new tenants registering was down 4% on July’s figures, the number of enquiries was down 2%, and both offers and viewings were flat, suggesting that the summer lettings market had already started to slow.

Richard Davies, Chestertons’ Head of Lettings, commented:

“There were substantially more rental properties available on the market in August than there were at the same time last year, which meant that many landlords needed to reduce their rents in order to attract tenants. We saw many tenants taking advantage of this and making a move in August to secure the best properties at the best prices.”

“This is undoubtedly a tough market for landlords and rents are still under a lot of pressure but September has started strongly, with applicant registrations up 50% compared to the same time last year and viewings and move-ins up 39% and 58% respectively. This shows that that there is a still a good opportunity for landlords to secure a tenant, providing the rental price of their property is competitively priced.

“However this window of opportunity continues to narrow as we head into the fourth quarter, which is traditionally quieter for the lettings market.”