Average monthly rent in England and Wales hits £800

The average rent in England and Wales is now £800 per month according to latest statistics from Your Move.

The area with the sharpest increase is the East of England where rents rose by 1.6 per cent in the last month alone and by 7.4 per cent in the last year. The East of England is the region with the highest rents (£883 pcm) outside of London, moving ahead of the South East (£845).

The North East remains the cheapest place to rent, with average rental being £525.

London remains the most expensive place to rent a property, with average rent being £1,203, although the rental market has slowed down significantly – 6.4 per cent down on January’s £1,280 for example. 

The proportion of tenants in arrears across England and Wales increased month-on-month, Your Move found. In March the percentage of households in arrears was 9.05 per cent, higher than the 8.1 per cent seen a month ago. 

However, the proportion of tenants in arrears remains well below the all-time high of 14.6 per cent recorded in February 2010.

Yields continued to fall in most regions surveyed. Across all of England the typical yield was 4.5 per cent in March, having declined on both a monthly basis and year-on-year. 

Wales was the only area not to see yields fall in the last 12 months. The average return for landlords in Wales was 4.8 per cent, exactly the same as both last month and a year ago.