Bexley is the cheapest London borough to rent in, at an average of £1,537 a month in August 2026, £795 below the London average of £2,332 (ONS Price Index of Private Rents). Sutton (£1,556), Havering (£1,565), Hillingdon (£1,570) and Croydon (£1,582) complete the five cheapest, all on the outer edge of the city. But the cheapest borough depends on what you’re renting: Havering is cheapest for a one-bed, and Hillingdon for a terraced house.
This ranking uses the ONS figures for every London borough the ONS publishes (32; there is no separate figure for the City of London). They are averages of what people pay across all tenancies, new and long-running, so a home advertised today will usually cost more. Each borough’s full figures are on the London Rent Index on FTR London.
The cheapest boroughs to rent in London
| Rank | Borough | Average rent | Change in a year | One-bed | Two-bed | Below London average |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bexley | £1,537 | +1.6% | £1,229 | £1,526 | £795 |
| 2 | Sutton | £1,556 | +2.1% | £1,239 | £1,554 | £776 |
| 3 | Havering | £1,565 | +1.5% | £1,217 | £1,542 | £767 |
| 4 | Hillingdon | £1,570 | +2.5% | £1,252 | £1,586 | £762 |
| 5 | Croydon | £1,582 | +3.2% | £1,265 | £1,573 | £750 |
| 6 | Bromley | £1,684 | +2.7% | £1,312 | £1,641 | £648 |
| 7 | Barking and Dagenham | £1,698 | +2.6% | £1,377 | £1,721 | £634 |
| 8 | Redbridge | £1,726 | +2.0% | £1,368 | £1,681 | £606 |
| 9 | Waltham Forest | £1,763 | +1.5% | £1,400 | £1,723 | £569 |
| 10 | Harrow | £1,778 | +2.9% | £1,394 | £1,715 | £554 |
| 11 | Kingston upon Thames | £1,811 | −1.2% | £1,379 | £1,755 | £521 |
| 12 | Enfield | £1,827 | +5.1% | £1,422 | £1,764 | £505 |
| 13 | Lewisham | £1,829 | +2.0% | £1,457 | £1,789 | £503 |
At the other end, Kensington and Chelsea averages £3,690 and Westminster £3,196, so Bexley’s average rent is 42% of Kensington and Chelsea’s. Bexley is also only £78 a month above the average for England as a whole (£1,459). For comparison outside London, the cheapest English region is the North East, at £788.
The cheapest borough depends on what you rent
The overall ranking mixes flats and family houses, and the order changes when you look at one size of home. These are the differences that matter when you choose:
- One-bed: Havering is cheapest (£1,217), then Bexley (£1,229), Sutton (£1,239), Hillingdon (£1,252) and Croydon (£1,265).
- Two-bed: Bexley (£1,526), Havering (£1,542), Sutton (£1,554), Croydon (£1,573) and Hillingdon (£1,586).
- Three-bed: Havering (£1,847), Croydon (£1,858) and Bexley (£1,865), with Barking and Dagenham and Sutton joint fourth (£1,899).
- Four or more bedrooms: Bexley (£2,424), Sutton (£2,492), Havering (£2,496), Barking and Dagenham (£2,519) and Waltham Forest (£2,565), which is only ninth overall.
Bromley is the clearest case of a ranking misleading you: sixth overall and sixth for one-beds, but 14th for homes with four or more bedrooms (£2,926), so big family houses there are not cheap. Kingston upon Thames is 11th overall but ninth for one-beds, and it is the only borough in this list where rents fell over the year (−1.2%).
The cheapest house to rent
If you want a house rather than a flat, the answer changes again. The cheapest average terraced house is in Hillingdon (£1,738 a month), ahead of Sutton (£1,749), Bexley (£1,790), Croydon (£1,797) and Havering (£1,803), against a London average of £2,840. For a semi-detached house, Havering is cheapest (£1,930), followed by Barking and Dagenham (£1,974) and Bexley (£1,977). For a flat or maisonette, Bexley (£1,387) leads Sutton (£1,404) and Havering (£1,423), against £2,056 for London (ONS, August 2026).
Rooms and studios
The ONS publishes no figures for studios or for rooms in shared homes. SpareRoom’s Rental Index puts the average advertised room in Greater London at £915 a month with bills included in the second quarter of 2026, and £794 in outer London (SpareRoom). Our comparison of renting alone and sharing sets a room against a one-bed in every borough.
Cheap to whom? Rent against local pay
A borough can be cheap by London standards and still expensive for the people who live there. The London Rent Index sets each borough’s average rent against the median full-time pay of its residents (ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, 2024, gross):
- Bromley has the lowest ratio of all 32 boroughs, at 40.6%, because its residents’ median pay (£4,152 a month) is the highest in this list. Bexley is next, at 41.8%.
- Barking and Dagenham has the lowest resident median pay of any borough (£3,224 a month), so although it is seventh cheapest, its rent takes 52.7% of local pay.
- Across London as a whole, the average rent takes 63.1% of residents’ median gross pay.
The pay figures are from 2024 and gross, and rents are current, so treat these as a comparison between boroughs rather than an exact share of anyone’s income.
Where cheap rents are catching up
The cheapest boroughs have not stayed cheap by standing still. Bexley’s average rent has risen from £1,079 in January 2021 to £1,537 in August 2026, up 42.4%, faster than London as a whole (34.4%); among all 32 boroughs only Hounslow rose faster in percentage terms.
Havering is up 35.5% and Barking and Dagenham 35.9% over the same period. The most recent year has been calmer: Bexley rose 1.6% in the year to August 2026, against 3.5% for London. Enfield is the exception in this list, up 5.1% in the year. Our look at whether London rents will fall puts these changes in context.
The catch: travel and council tax
The cheapest boroughs are all in outer London, from Zone 3 to Zone 6, and two costs of living there are easy to miss.
The first is fares. The zone alone doesn’t set your pay-as-you-go fare; the operator matters too. A peak single from Zone 5 on the Tube (Harrow-on-the-Hill to Baker Street) is £5.30, but from Zone 5 on Southern or Southeastern (East Croydon or Bromley South to Victoria, Bexleyheath to London Bridge) it is £6.60. From Zone 6, Romford to Liverpool Street on the Elizabeth line is £5.90, while Kingston or Surbiton to Waterloo on South Western Railway is £8.50 (TfL fares, 2026). Travelcards and daily caps are the same whichever operator you use, so the difference hits people who pay per journey.
| Borough | Station (zone) | To | Time | Peak single | Three office days a month |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bexley | Sidcup (5) | London Bridge | about 20 min | £6.60 | £171.60 |
| Sutton | Sutton (5) | Blackfriars | about 38 min | £6.60 | £171.60 |
| Havering | Romford (6) | Liverpool Street | about 28 min | £5.90 | £153.40 |
| Hillingdon | Hayes & Harlington (5) | Tottenham Court Road | about 24 min | £5.30 | £137.80 |
| Croydon | East Croydon (5) | Victoria | about 17 min | £6.60 | £171.60 |
| Bromley | Bromley South (5) | Victoria | about 18 min | £6.60 | £171.60 |
| Barking and Dagenham | Barking (4) | Fenchurch Street | about 15 min | £4.80 | £124.80 |
| Redbridge | Ilford (4) | Liverpool Street | about 17 min | £4.80 | £124.80 |
| Waltham Forest | Walthamstow Central (3) | Oxford Circus | about 21 min | £3.90 | £101.40 |
| Harrow | Harrow-on-the-Hill (5) | Baker Street | about 18 min | £5.30 | £137.80 |
| Kingston upon Thames | Surbiton (6) | Waterloo | about 18 min | £8.50 | £211.90 (daily cap) |
The last column is two peak journeys a day, three days a week, averaged over the year (13 days a month). Each one is below the monthly Travelcard for its zones (from £201.60 for Zones 1-3 to £313.40 for Zones 1-6, TfL 2026), so for commuting three days a week, pay as you go costs less; a Travelcard only pays off if you also travel a lot at other times. Times are station to station, before the walk to your first station. See London rent by Tube zone for more journeys.
The second is council tax, which often runs the opposite way to rent. Band D for 2026/27, including the Mayor of London’s precept (MHCLG): Croydon £2,599.91, the second-highest in London; Havering £2,424.66; Sutton £2,378.64; Bexley £2,366.36; Barking and Dagenham £2,198.51; Bromley £2,140.04; Hillingdon £2,045.46. The London average is £2,068, and Westminster charges £1,049.55. On a Band D home, Croydon’s bill is about £129 a month more than Westminster’s. Our guide to the hidden costs of renting in London adds up the rest.
Which cheap borough suits you
If you work in the City, the quickest peak trips from the cheaper boroughs are East Croydon to London Bridge (about 14 minutes on Thameslink), Barking to Fenchurch Street (about 15 minutes on c2c) and Ilford to Liverpool Street (about 17 minutes on the Elizabeth line), according to the TfL Journey Planner. For Victoria, Croydon and Bromley South have direct trains of about 17 and 18 minutes, and Walthamstow Central is on the Victoria line in Zone 3, about 21 minutes from Oxford Circus. For West London and Heathrow, Hayes & Harlington in Hillingdon is on the Elizabeth line. If you want a house, Hillingdon, Sutton and Bexley have the cheapest average terraced houses and Havering the cheapest semi-detached (ONS, August 2026). And if you pay per journey, add rent and fares together: an average one-bed plus three office days a month comes to about £1,370 from Romford in Havering, £1,401 from Sidcup in Bexley, £1,437 from East Croydon and £1,493 from Ilford in Redbridge.
Find a place in the cheaper boroughs
Browse homes to rent in Bexley, Croydon, Redbridge or any other borough. On FTR London, landlords list their homes themselves and you contact them directly.
Landlords in outer London: in these boroughs fares and council tax can add a large amount to what a renter pays each month, so state the nearest station, its zone and the journey time into central London in your advert, and list your property on FTR London.
How we researched this: rents from the ONS Price Index of Private Rents (August 2026, published 16 September 2026) as shown on the London Rent Index; pay from ONS ASHE (2024); rooms from SpareRoom (Q2 2026); journey times from the TfL Journey Planner and fares from TfL (2026); council tax from MHCLG (2026/27). Checked on 24 September 2026.
Correction, 24 September 2026: this guide was rewritten with current ONS figures. Earlier versions gave rents and neighbourhood prices without a named, current source.
