Rents in Britain’s private rented sector increased by 1.2% in the 12 months to December 2017, the lowest annual growth since January 2012.
In England, private rental prices grew by 1.3%, Wales saw growth of 1.7% while Scotland saw rental prices increase by 0.4%, according to the data published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
The Index of Private Housing Rental Prices (IPHRP) data also shows that in London rents grew by 0.4% in the 12 month period, some 0.8% below the national average and the lowest annual growth since October 2010.
The report points out that rental growth has been slowing since the end of 2015 and this is driven mainly by a slowdown in London.
In contrast, between January 2011 and December 2017, rents increased by 15.5% and this was strongly driven by the historical growth in rents within London. However, when London is excluded from these figures, rents increased by 11.8% over the same period.
A breakdown of the figures show that in England rents increased year on year by 1.3%, down from 1.4% in November 2017. The annual growth rate for England is the lowest since January 2011, when it was also 1.3%.
In Wales annual rental growth was 1.7%, the highest in the country and Wales has shown a broad increase in its annual growth rate since July 2016 and the highest since the index series began in 2010.
Rental growth in Scotland increased by 0.4% year on year, up from 0.2% in November 2017. The index report suggests that this weaker growth may be due to stronger supply and weaker demand in Scotland.
Within England the biggest annual rent increase was 2.6% in the East Midlands, down from 2.7% in November 2017, followed by a rise of 2.2% in the East of England, up from 2.1% in November 2017, while in the South West growth was unchanged at 2.1% and in the South East it was 2%, down from 2.3% in November 2017.
The lowest annual rent increase was 0.1% in the North East, up from no growth in November, then 0.4% in in London, down from 0.6% in November while there was no change in the North West at 1.3% and a rise of 1.4% in Yorkshire and the Humber, down from 1.6%.
