Asking rents for properties in the UK fell by 0.2% in the first quarter of 2018 to an average of £775 but are still 0.9% above the same quarter in 2016, the latest index data shows.
But outside London rents are still growing, up 0.9% while in the capital they have fallen by 0.1%, according to the rental trends tracker report from property portal Rightmove.
The report reveals that in the longer term rents have been rising substantially, up 25% in London in the last decade and up 16% outside of London on a typical two bedroom rental home.
Hackney in London has seen the biggest rise at 63% to an average of £1,755 per month, making it the area with the biggest increase in asking rents across Britain while Dartford has the highest growth outside London, up by 41% from £751 to £1,063.
The rest of the top 10 is dominated by other areas of Kent and Hertfordshire, plus Dundee and Edinburgh which have seen rental increases of 40% and 39%. Renting a two bed home in Edinburgh is now almost £1,000 a month, compared to just under £700 per month in 2008.
‘Although the growth in asking rents has slowed over the past few years, people new to the rental market or those looking for a bigger property could find that they need to look further out than their initial wish list of places, especially in the bigger cities around the country,’ said Rightmove’s housing market analyst Miles Shipside.
‘A look at the first few months of this year shows the usual seasonal trend of asking rents falling slightly compared to the last quarter of last year, but we’re likely see a rise again next quarter. London asking rents remain flat compared to this time last year, a sign that we are highly unlikely to see the same big increases over the next 10 years that we’ve seen in some areas in the capital over the previous ten years,’ he explained.
The data also shows that the cheapest places to rent include Barnsley, Stoke-on-Trent and Kilmarnock all with asking rents of under £500 per month. Burnley is the cheapest at £421, followed by Burnley at £448 and South Shields at £456.
‘Hackney has seen pretty heady increases in both asking rents and house prices in the area over the past ten years, as it has been transformed from a cheaper location into a more popular and higher priced address,’ said Shipside.
‘Its rise has been enhanced by the 2012 Olympics effect and improvements to transport links, with rents peaking in the second quarter of 2016 and plateauing in recent years. The growth in these areas compares with places like Barnes, Chelsea and Canary Wharf which seem to have topped out long ago as rents are pretty much the same as they were 10 years ago,’ he added.
