Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will estimate the level of change in median monthly rent in the private sector in the London Borough of Southwark for (a) one, (b) two and (c) three-bedroom flats in each of the last 10 years.

Statistics on the private rental market in England and the London Borough of Southwark are published by the Valuation Office Agency and are available at the following link.

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/private-rental-market-statistics-may-2015

The Valuation Office Agency advises that because the composition of this sample changes over time, it is not possible to compare median rents provided in this publication with statistics in previous publications to infer trends in the rental market over time. The statistics therefore provide a snapshot that shows the range of rents across England.

The official source on change over time in cost of renting is the Office for National Statistics Index of Private Housing Rental Prices available at the following link.

http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/hpi/index-of-private-housing-rental-prices/january-to-march-2015-results/index.html