If you have been looking to rent a new house but have been struggling to afford the monthly rental cost, new figures show it doesn’t look like it’s going to get cheaper any time soon.
The average rent for properties inside London and around the rest of the UK has reached a record new high, property website Rightmove has revealed.
Tenants wanting to live outside England’s capital city are being asked to pay an average of £1,231 per month.
Meanwhile, properties inside London have been found to be reaching a record price of £2,567.
Asking prices have fallen marginally this month as Base Rate rises impact the number of sales agreed. However, buyer demand is still higher than 2019's more normal market level. Read more here 👉 https://t.co/cT3F5CBXVZ pic.twitter.com/RUvgLHWI4W
— Rightmove (@rightmove) July 17, 2023
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The figures which cover the whole of the UK for the second quarter of this year, also show the average asking rent for a typical home outside London is 33% higher than during the same period in 2019, increasing by £308 from £923 per month.
Similarly, London rents are 28% (£559 per month) higher than they were at the same time in 2019.
However, Rightmove said that the average property available to rent is finding a tenant in 17 days, the quickest time period it has recorded since November 2022.
Rightmove’s director of property science Tim Bannister said: “Average asking rents for new tenants have risen at a rapid pace since the pandemic, reflecting the significant increase in demand, which is driven by a combination of factors including changed housing needs, such as some space to work from home.”
In signs that some landlords are selling up, 16% of properties currently for sale were previously available on the rental market, a figure which is up from 13% in January 2019, Rightmove said.
Allison Thompson, national lettings managing director of Leaders Romans Group, said: “Some highly leveraged landlords are considering selling due to interest rate rises but we find most are mortgage-free, and in most cases our advice is to avoid a knee-jerk reaction.”
Lynne Lancaster, head of estate agency at Penrith Farmers and Kidd’s, added: “Demand continues to well outstrip supply and we are actually seeing more tenants stay put for longer rather than move after the agreed term.”
