Prime family rental markets are largely confined to London and the South East and in just 14% of all local authorities rents for properties with four or more bedrooms average more than £24,000 per annum (£2,000 per calendar month).

All are located in London or its immediate commuting hinterland with the exception of Poole, Castle Morpeth and the high value Cheshire markets (within the local authority of Macclesfield).

Prime markets for family housing are not driven by the same factors as the rest of the market. Savills research shows that an inability to buy is rarely a reason behind renting, accounting for just 8% of tenant demand in 2011. The main driver is relocation through employment (51%), supplemented by demand (25% of tenants) from those who have made a conscious decision not to buy.

Prime Central London rental levels reflect the dominance of tenants employed in the financial and business services sector and demand from international tenants (some 45% of demand is from North American and Western Europe tenants) and are of a different order compared to the rest of the market.

Average asking rents for properties of four or more bedrooms in the central London boroughs of Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster average £130,200 (£10,850 pcm) and £118,500 (£9,875 pcm) per annum respectively.

In Camden and Hammersmith and Fulham equivalent figures would be £73,000 (£6,080 pcm) and £64,300 per annum (£5,360 pcm).

Outside the capital, the highest value prime rental market is that of Elmbridge, in suburban Surrey, where the average annual rent for a property of four or more bedrooms is £58,300 (4,850 pcm).

Taken from
Special Report: Rental Britain