Rents remain unchanged across much of the UK

Rents have risen a negligible 0.9 per cent across the UK in the last 12 months according to HomeLet.

The average monthly rent in the UK is now £912; when London is excluded, the average rent in the UK is now £759, up by 0.1 per cent on last year.

Average rents in London were £1,569, up by 1.5 per cent on last year; rents in Scotland show the highest year-on-year increase at 5.6 per cent. 

Martin Totty, chief executive of HomeLet, says: “Rental price inflation was much more stable over the whole of 2017 compared to 2016, when rents rose at an annual rate of more than four per cent in the first half of the year, before dropping back in the second half.”

“The data also shows the sensitivity of the rental market to factors other than simply location. Last year, we saw rents in the areas surrounding the commuter belt to the south of the capital rise during a spate of rail strikes. 

“The rate of growth has now slowed in this area as the strikes have ended. However, in the first quarter of 2018 rents in the central and eastern regions of London rose, which coincides with Crossrail nearing completion and suggests commutability into London has a real-time impact on the rental market.”

During the first quarter of 2018, house prices across the UK rose by 2.7 per cent whilst the rental market increases have been nowhere near as significant, rising just 0.3 per cent from £909 to £912.

“This data shows that a year into the three year phasing-in of changes to buy-to-let landlord taxation, rental inflation so far has remained steady rather than increasing as some commentators had predicted” says Totty.