UK rent prices are on the rise

The average rent in the UK is now £965 which is up by 1.5% on the previous month, according to the latest HomeLet Rental Index. When London is excluded, the average rent in the UK is £808 which is an annual rise of 1.8%.

Despite annual rises in ten of the twelve regions monitored by HomeLet, rents in London are showing a 3.2% fall between July 2019 and July 2020. This represents the third decrease in annual variance in subsequent months and the biggest decrease since June 2015. The South East also shows a yearly decrease, with an annual decline of 1.8%. Alternatively, Northern Ireland saw the biggest annual increase in rental prices, at 2.3%.

The region with the largest year-on-year rent value increase was the North West, showing a 6.5% increase between July 2019 and July 2020. In July, the average rental value in London was 83% higher than the rest of the UK.

The index uses data on actual achieved rental values for just-agreed tenancies arranged in the most recent period.

Martin Totty, chief executive at HomeLet, said: “July appeared to be yet another encouraging month for lettings – with a rise in rental prices across all of the twelve regions monitored compared to June – although the data does indicate a downward trend emerging Y-O-Y for those in the South East and Greater London.

“Demand for new tenancies is still strong, HomeLet received the same volume of property applications for tenant reference checks this month as the same month last year. That coupled with the steadily increasing rents is positive for the sector, but there’s naturally caution around what could happen over the coming months.

“HomeLet’s tenant reference data – which is also forward looking – is one of the few sources with access to large data sets underpinning robust regional trend data. It’ll be interesting to see what trends emerge, especially on the regional level and how these variations will affect both landlords and tenants across the country over the coming months.”