Rental prices in seven regions of Great Britain are increasing at the fastest rates on record. The North West, East Midlands, West Midlands, South West, East of England, Scotland, and Wales are all experiencing record rises.
Private rents in the East Midlands were 4.3% higher in July 2022 than they were 12 months earlier, according to figures released by the Office of National Statistics. That’s the highest year-on-year increase of any region in the UK.
It’s also the region’s highest increase of any month since comparable records began in 2006, and is more than double the 2.1% increase in the equivalent month in 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic began. Record rent rises also took place in July 2022 in the East of England (4.1%), the North West (4.0%), the West Midlands (3.3%), Scotland (2.7%), and Wales (2.1%).
In the South West, meanwhile, the rate was at 4.0%, which is down slightly from June 2022 (4.1%) which was the record. All other regions in Great Britain have seen increases, but not at record levels.
Private rents are up by 2.9% in the North East in the year to July 2022, by 3.4% in the South East, and by 3.4% in Yorkshire and the Humber, and by 4.0% in the South West. London is currently experiencing the lowest rent increases in England.
Rent prices in the capital were 2.1% higher in July 2022 than they were in July 2021. That’s compared to a record of 5.3% in the 12 months to September 2012.
However, the cost of living crisis has brought about London’s largest year-on-year increases since the start of the pandemic. Between March 2020 and March 2022, the average monthly year-no-year rent price increase in London was just 0.5%. That’s compared to 2.6% over the same period in both the East Midlands and South West
The price rise comes as workers are seeing their regular pay shrinking in value. Real-term regular pay fell by 3.0% in June for workers across Great Britain, according to separate figures from the ONS.
Private rents across Great Britain have, unsurprisingly, increased compared to January 2015. Rent prices in the East Midlands are 22.0% higher than at the start of 2015.
In the South West they’re 19.3% higher, in the South East it’s 17.4%, in the East 18.7%, in the West Midlands 16.7%, in Yorkshire and the Humber 14.6%, in the North West by 13.0%, in Wales by 8.7%, in the North East by 8.0%, and in Scotland by 8.0%.
