Propertymark: London rent salary threshold reaches £74,010

Propertymark’s revised August rental tracker puts the representative salary needed to secure an average-priced London home at £74,010 a year, 3.3 percent higher than a year earlier.

The figure is based on a £2,467 average monthly rent and the income level used by referencing agencies. It came as London rents fell 0.7 percent between July and August, a reminder that a one-month movement in asking or agreed rents does not settle the affordability picture.

Although the capital’s monthly average eased, it remains the most expensive rental market in the tracker and has the highest income requirement by a wide margin. For landlords, the release makes tenant affordability checks as important as a local rent comparison when setting a new asking price.

South East posts the largest monthly rent fall

Propertymark said the South East recorded the largest monthly decline, with its average rent falling 1.8 percent to £1,498. Scotland fell 1.2 percent to £1,174. Rents rose in the other regions covered, including a 0.8 percent increase in the East Midlands and East of England.

The South East’s representative salary requirement was £44,940, while the East of England stood at £40,800. The North East remained the lowest-cost region in the release, with an average rent of £878 and a representative salary of £26,340.

Kim Lidbury, President of ARLA Propertymark, said rental markets continued to vary considerably around the country. She said the movements reflected the balance of supply and demand, the availability of homes coming to market and the type of property offered.

Affordability measure follows rents over time

Propertymark calculates the representative annual salary at 30 times the average monthly rent used in referencing checks. On that basis, London’s £74,010 threshold was £2,340 above August 2025, even though the August 2026 monthly rent was lower than July’s £2,484.

The annual comparison was more favourable in two regions. The required salary fell 1.2 percent in the North West to £34,110 and 3.7 percent in Yorkshire and Humberside to £29,160. Those changes should not be read as evidence that every tenant in those regions has found renting easier, because the tracker uses regional average agreed rents rather than individual household circumstances.

This follows Landlord Knowledge’s July coverage of Propertymark’s London salary threshold, when the trade body recorded a lower annual requirement after a monthly rent fall. The new release reverses that annual direction in the capital, while still showing that rent movements differ sharply by region.

Propertymark’s latest reports and research page is the primary source for the revised tracker. Landlords can also compare the data with Landlord Knowledge’s recent HomeLet rental-index coverage, which measures new-tenancy rents using a different dataset and methodology.

What this means for landlords

If you are re-letting in London: test the proposed rent against tenant income and referencing criteria, not only the last comparable achieved.
If you own in the South East or Scotland: a monthly decline in the regional average is a reason to check current local lets before increasing an asking rent.
Watch for: whether lower regional averages persist in the next tracker, rather than treating one month as a new trend.
Bottom line: regional rent data is a useful benchmark, but a sustainable tenancy still depends on the property, local supply and a tenant’s ability to pass affordability checks.

Editor’s view
A fall in London’s monthly average is welcome news for renters, but it does not erase a £74,010 referencing threshold. Landlords who price from a headline number alone risk longer voids; the sounder approach is to use the local evidence and keep the proposed rent within reach of the tenant pool.

Author: Editorial Team – UK landlord & buy-to-let news, policy, and finance
Published: 12 September 2026

Sources: Propertymark revised Rental Price and Average Salary Tracker, August 2026
Related reading: Propertymark says London rent salary threshold fell 17% in June