Average asking rents outside London rise by 10% in a YEAR, according to Rightmove

Average asking rents outside London reached £1,278 per month between July and September, up 10 per cent in a year or 3.8 per cent in the last three months alone.

According to Rightmove’s Rental Trends Tracker, this means the cost of renting a house has reached a new record for the fifteenth quarter in a row.

In some areas there were even larger migrations. In Luton, Bedfordshire, average asking rents rose by 23.6 per cent to £1,263 in the last year, data shows.

Rising: The quarterly change in average advertised rental prices, according to data from Rightmove

In London, average asking rents rose to a record £2,627 per month during the period, up 12.1 per cent on the previous year.

The number of inquiries each rental property receives from potential renters has more than tripled to 25, from eight at the same time in 2019.

In the north west of England, the average advertised monthly rental cost has risen by 12 per cent in the last year to an average of £1,105, Rightmove said.

Meanwhile, in the North East of England, average monthly rental costs rose by 9.8 per cent year-on-year to £856 per month.

Wales recorded the lowest annual increase in advertised monthly rental costs, rising 5.9 per cent to £1,032 per month.

Shifts: A map showing the average advertised rental cost shifts across the UK

Hotspots: Areas where average advertised rental prices have increased significantly

The increase in inquiries is due to the “persistent imbalance” between supply and demand: 41 percent more tenants wanted to move than in 2019 and the number of available apartments fell by 35 percent, according to the results.

Ria Laitmer, lettings manager at Clarkes estate agents in Dorset, said: “The gap between high demand and a severe shortage of rental properties is just crazy at the moment.”

“We are receiving increasing inquiries for each property to let from prospective tenants, with tenants lining up for open viewings and the majority disappointed as there are simply not enough properties on the market to meet demand. “

However, the total number of available rental properties is up 14 percent compared to last year, while the number of new rental properties coming onto the market is now 7 percent higher than this time last year.

Rightmove said this was the biggest annual increase in new property rentals since November 2022.

Competitive: There are 25 potential tenants inquiring about each property, says Rightmove

Tim Bannister, director of property science at Rightmove, said: “Record rents and far more tenants wanting to move than there are homes available mean it will still be very difficult for many tenants to navigate the market.”

“However, there are signs that the pressure between supply and demand is easing somewhat, with the number of new rental properties coming to market now at its highest level since the end of last year.”

“While it is likely that it will take some time for this to impact rental prices, if the upward trend between supply and demand continues, we could see the pace of annual rental increases slow more significantly than before.”

“In the current market, renters need to do more to have the best chance of renting.”

The pressure on the rental market is increasing as buying a first home remains difficult for many people to afford.

Mortgage rates are slowly falling but remain high, and many potential buyers are struggling to save enough for a down payment or earn enough to afford the expensive monthly repayments.

Findings released this week showed that a quarter of young homeowners who took out a new mortgage have chosen to pay it off over 35 years or longer to make monthly payments more affordable.

An analysis using Experian data found that 25 percent of new homeowners aged 29 and under chose a repayment term of at least 35 years between January and March this year.

This compares to the historically typical value of about 10 percent that Experian recorded in January 2020.