Median rent paid in the private rented sector in year to September was £690

The median monthly rent in the private rented sector in England was £690 per month in the year to the end of September 2018, the latest official figures show.

London had the highest median monthly rent at £1,473, and the largest variation in rental values, while the lowest was in the North East of England at £495, according to the data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Properties with more bedrooms had higher median rents, with the highest rents seen in properties with four or more bedrooms and there is a large difference in median rents between studios and rooms, the data also shows.

The report says that this may be driven by high volumes of data in the sample of studios for which are located in London and the South East, representing over half of the sample size.

Indeed, rent for rooms in the sample has a much smaller interquartile range than other bedroom categories. There was around a £90 difference between the lower and upper quartile compared with around £380 for studios, one, two, and three bedroom properties, and £1000 for those with four or more bedrooms.

Rents in the southern regions of England and the East tended to be higher than rents in the Midlands and Northern regions. London rents were highest across all categories and had the greatest range of values.

The interquartile range of London’s rents was £663, with an interquartile range of £802 in Inner London while rents in the North East had the smallest interquartile range of £170, just over a quarter of London’s.

There was a varied distribution in the prices that tenants paid for private housing across regions. There was a difference of almost £2,000 in median rents between the most and least expensive local or unitary authorities. This section focusses on London, where the highest rents and largest variations were recorded, and the North East with the lowest regional rents and least variation.

Rents were generally highest in Inner London, where the median rent was £1,650. The highest median rent in London, and in England, was in Kensington and Chelsea at £2,383 and the lowest median rent was in Lewisham at £1,275.

The median rent in Outer London was £1,300. The highest median rent was in Richmond upon Thames at £1,600 and the lowest median rent was in Bexley at £1,000.

In the North East the median rent was £495, with an interquartile range of £170, ranging from £425 to £595. The highest median rent was in Newcastle upon Tyne at £600.

The lowest median rent in the North East was shared by Hartlepool, Darlington and County Durham at £450. However this was not the lowest national rent. The lowest median rent in England was £400 in Kingston upon Hull.