Rents in the private rented sector in the UK fell month on month in over 50% of the country in July with the biggest drop in the West Midlands, according to the latest index.
Overall average rents dropped in five of the eight UK regions monitored by property technology company Goodlord with a 1.11% fall recorded in the West Midlands while the South East and South West of England, London and Wales also saw declines.
In contrast, the North West saw a month on month increase of 1.95%, taking average rents in the region to £750. The East Midlands and the North East also saw small increases.
The shifts in July’s figures take the average rent for the whole of the UK to £906 per month. The highest rents are in London at £1,608, almost twice that of the next most expensive region, the South East at £992.
The data also shows that void periods remain lengthy in East Midlands. The South West continues to have the lowest average void periods in the UK, where it took just nine days to fill a property in July.
But it took almost three times as long to fill a vacant property in the East Midlands in July, where the average void period remained unchanged from June at 25 days.
However, all eight regions were recording lower void periods in July than their year to date average, pointing to an uptick in the pace of lettings across the UK as a whole.
London continues to be the least affordable region for renters in the UK, with an affordability ratio of 3.3. Goodlord defines affordability as a tenant’s guaranteed yearly income divided by their yearly rent share, with 2.5 considered the minimum affordable ratio.
The North East, West Midlands and Wales were the most affordable regions in July, each with an average affordability ratio of 3.9.
‘While average monthly rents slipped across the majority of regions in July, the void figures for the last two months show signs of a market picking up pace,’ said Tom Mundy, chief operating officer at Goodlord.
‘June and July’s void figures are much lower than the 2019 average void periods for each region, perhaps indicating the release of pent up demand from tenants who postponed decisions until after the tenant fee ban came into force. This is good news for agents and landlords at a time of industry flux,’ he added.
