The average rent in Scotland increased by 1.7% in the year to February 2019 to an average of £579 per month with four out of five regions seeing growth, the latest index shows.
Edinburgh and the Lothians is most expensive region with rents at £699 per month, up 5%, while the best performance came in the Highlands and Islands region with rents up 7.3% year on year to £691, according to the Your Move index.
Glasgow and Clyde also significant annual rental growth of 5.6% to that the average rent to £604 but there was more modest growth in the East of Scotland, up 0.7% in the last year to reach £538.
Meanwhile the south of Scotland has become the cheapest place to rent a property with rents down by 2.4% year on year to an average of £534, but rents increased by 0.7% month on month.
Elsewhere, month on month rents increased by 0.3% in Edinburgh and the Lothians but fell by 2.2% in Glasgow and Clyde and by 0.8% in Highlands and Islands.
The index also shows that rental properties, especially family homes, still offer strong returns to landlords with an average of 4.6% in February, unchanged from January and above the average in England and Wales of 4.3% in January.
‘Our figures demonstrate that for those owning rental property returns can be good. With more families appearing to be looking to rent, larger family homes represent an increasingly stable option for landlords,’ said Brian Moran, lettings director of Your Move Scotland.
‘It is little wonder that existing or prospective landlords from other parts of the UK are choosing to enter the strong Scottish rental market. For landlords already in the sector, an average yield of 4.6% could convince many to expand their portfolios in the near future,’ he added.
