The new record across Britain, excluding London, means that average advertised rents outside London are around 7% higher than a year earlier, according to Rightmove’s analysis covering the month of May
The average monthly rent outside London has increased to an unprecedented high of £1,316, reveals a report from a leading property website.
This fresh peak signifies that rents are now up by around 7% compared to the same period last year, according to Rightmove’s data for May. Meanwhile, in London itself, the figures are even steeper, with average rents hitting £2,652 per month, marking a 4% rise on last year, the website outlined.
Rightmove has called on the incoming government to fast-track housebuilding and get landlords back into the market by offering incentives, aiming to correct the rental sector’s supply-demand mismatch and put a cap on escalating annual rent inflation. Even though the surge in rent prices has somewhat cooled down from 12% two years ago, the growth rate still far exceeds the “more normal” increase of about 2% annually experienced pre-COVID, Rightmove highlights.
It noted that while London has seen a rebalancing act which has dulled the pace of rent increases, Scotland remains the worst-hit by the skew between available properties and those needing them, according to Rightmove’s insights. Tim Bannister, a property expert at Rightmove, said: “We’ve been talking about the imbalance between supply and demand in the rental market for a long time now, so it’s easy to forget that there was a time before the pandemic where rental price growth was more stable.”
He added: “The next government should be prioritising an improvement to the planning process, an acceleration of house building, and encouraging more supply into the rental market.”
Nathan Emerson, chief executive of Propertymark, commented: “Propertymark has long argued that the private rental sector needs more houses to stabilise rental prices but there is a myriad of other factors that can contribute towards making the market more attractive for both investors and tenants.”
Ahead of this week’s General Election, Emerson expressed: “With a General Election coming this week, Propertymark would like to see the next government reform the tax system so that more investors can be persuaded to invest in the private rental sector and lower rents for tenants in the long term. Whilst we support a greater supply of houses, there has to be a sensible deliverable programme mindful of protecting the green belt wherever possible.”
Rightmove’s figures show the following average advertised rents and their annual increase:.
North East, £894, 11%.
West Midlands, £1,180, 10%.
Scotland, £1,067, 9%.
East of England, £1,597, 8%.
North West, £1,146, 8%.
Yorkshire and the Humber, £1,022, 8%.
South West, £1,425, 7%.
East Midlands, £1,150, 7%.
South East, £1,836, 6%.
London, £2,652, 4%.
Wales, £1,065, 4%.
And Rightmove’s data indicates these areas as having the biggest imbalances between supply and demand in Britain:.
1. Scotland.
2. North West.
3. South West.
4. North East.
5. West Midlands.
6. Wales.
7. Yorkshire and the Humber.
8. East of England.
9. East Midlands.
10. South East.
11. London.
