Listings for four-bedroom properties in London declined the most, with availability reduced by almost 47% in the same period.

While the availability of private rental properties has dropped, asking rents are 20% above the pre-Covid level.

Labour councillor Darren Rodwell, spokesperson for London Councils, described the research as “the latest evidence of how the capital’s broken housing market is worsening the unsustainable and increasingly unmanageable pressures we face in London”.

“A bad situation is now becoming disastrous,” he added. “We’re seeing fast-rising private rents and reduced availability of rental properties against a backdrop of continuing cost of living pressures and London’s longstanding shortage of affordable housing.

The number of homes available to rent in London has dropped to a “disastrous” new low