Tiny rent increases over the past year, reports new research consultancy

Rents have risen over the past year but at a very low level according to new property consultancy Apropos. 

Across Britain as a whole it reports that private rental prices paid by tenants rose by 1.0 per cent in the 12 months to the end of December. 

In England the increase was 1.1 per cent; in Wales 0.8 per cent; and in Scotland 0.9 per cent over the same period.

London rental prices increased the least and remain subdued rising just 0.2 per cent year on year in December. 

The largest rise was in the East Midlands which saw rent prices increase by 2.5 per cent year on year.

“These figures highlight the continuing difficulties some parts of the rental sector face with low or static price increases over the last year. The best performing areas such as the West and East Midlands, Yorkshire and the South West (2.5, 1.8, 1.8 and 1.6 per cent respectively) are doing well but for London and the North East (0.2 and 0.3 per cent respectively) it continues to be difficult” says David Alexander, joint managing director of Apropos.

“The North East has not had more than one per cent increase since December 2016 while London has been below one per cent since September 2017. London has had six months of negative prices and two months of zero increases in the last year alone highlighting that rent prices remain subdued in the capital” he adds.

“For consistency over a prolonged period, perhaps predictably, the South East and the East of England are strong. But the strong performance of the East Midlands and, to a lesser extent, the West Midlands indicates that there are large areas of the UK which have a very strong, very active private rental sector.”