Rents in the UK increased by 1.5% in April to an average of £918 compared to the same month in 2017, led by growth in London, the latest index shows.
Rents in London increased by 4.5% year on year to an average of £1,588, the highest regional year on year growth, according to the figures from the HomeLet index.
When London is excluded, the average rent in the UK reached £761, up by 0.9% year on year and while overall rents increased, they fell by 2.1% in Wales and by 0.4% in the South East and the North East.
A breakdown of the figures reveal considerable regional variation in rental growth. After London the next biggest annual rise was 3.3% in Scotland, followed by 2.7% in the West Midlands, 2.5% in the East Midlands, 2.3% in Northern Ireland and 2.2% in the North West.
Rents increased by just 1% in Yorkshire and Humberside, by 0.7% in the South West and by 0.3% in the East of England, the index data also shows.
The figures reveal that the highest rents are in the London borough of Lambeth at £2.113, followed by £2,097 in Westminster, £2,093 in Camden and the City of London, £1,877 in Hammersmith and Fulham and Kensington and £1,734 in Tower Hamlets.
The cheapest rents in London are in Croydon at £1,163, followed by Barking, Dagenham and Havering at £1,224, Bexley and Greenwich at £1,285 and Harrow and Hillingdon at £1,331.
