Average rents pass four-figure milestone as stock shortage goes on

Strong rental growth pushed the average monthly rent on a newly let property outside London up to £1,002 pcm in April, passing the £1k pcm mark for the first time.

The data comes from Connells-owned agency chain Hamptons.

Passing the £1,000 out-of-London threshold comes less than three years after the average rent for the whole of Britain (so including London) last passed the same milestone in July 2020.

Over the last year the average rent outside the capital has risen 7.8 per cent, which puts it 26 per cent higher than on the eve of the Covid pandemic in February 2020.  

This annual increase will cost the average tenant an extra £868 a year if they were to move to a new home outside of London.  

The average rent now exceeds £1,000 pcm in three of the 10 regions outside of London  - East of England, South West and South East.

Back in early 2013 the average tenant who moved into a new home in regions outside of London paid £677 pcm, £325 pcm less than in April 2023.

Hamptons says average rents have passed four £100 pcm milestones since then, three of which have occurred since Covid.  The £900 pcm mark was passed just 21 months ago in August 2021.

Across Britain as a whole, rents rose 11.1 per cent year-on-year in April to reach a new high of £1,249 pcm.

This marked the second strongest month for rental growth across the country on record, only to be outpaced by the annual increase of 11.5 per cent recorded in May 2022.  

Overall, rents across Great Britain have risen 25 per cent since the eve of Covid, costing the average tenant an extra £2,962 each year.

London continues to post the strongest rental growth.  

The average rent on a new let in Greater London hit £2,210 pcm in April - 17.2 per cent higher than the same month last year.  

This meant that April also marked the first time that the average monthly rent in the capital surpassed £2,200 pcm which will cost the average tenant an extra £3,895 a year if they were to move into a new rental home.

Rents in Inner London continued to fuel rental growth. The average monthly rent in Inner London crossed the £3,000 pcm mark for the first time in March (£3,047).  In April, the average Inner London rent rose to £3,138 - 24.9 per cent or £625 pcm higher than the same month last year.  

Last month, average rents reached new records in seven out of Great Britain’s 11 regions.  

Wales, the South West and the North East were the only regions where average rents remained slightly below their peak.  Like London, Scotland also saw double-digit rental growth (12.8 per cent) in April for homes where a new tenant moved in.