Massive drop in lettings supply creates new rent rise...

The average rent on a newly let property in Britain rose to £1,273 pcm in June, a new record according to lettings agency Hamptons.

This means that the average rent cost £110 pcm or 9.4 per cent more than the same time last year, marking the sixth strongest annual rent increase since the agency’s records began in 2014.

Overall, this increase will cost the average tenant an extra £1,315 a year than if they moved into a new home last year.

Having passed the £1,000 pcm mark for the first time in May, the average rent on a one-bed home in Great Britain rose 11.1 per cent year-on-year to average £1,017 pcm.

This means the average one-bed now costs the same as the average two-bed just 15 months ago in April 2022.

Similarly, the average two-bed rent (£1,170 pcm) is now the same as what a three-bed cost in January 2022. Rental growth has been similar for both two (10.9 per cent) and three-bed (9.3 per cent) homes.

Rents are increasing across all regions, however the pace of growth cooled in Greater London and Scotland, where rents have been rising the most, as well as in the East of England.

Rents in the North of England joined Greater London in seeing double-digit growth in June.

This marked the fourth time on record that rents in the three Northern regions (North East, North West and Yorkshire and The Humber) rose by more than 10 per cent, all of which have occurred in the last 24 months.

Aneisha Beveridge, head of research at Hamptons, says: “Rents are rising across the board, which suggests that the supply squeeze and rising landlord costs are pushing up rents across the market. Additionally, high mortgage rates, which have priced out would-be first-time buyers, are stoking rental demand.

“While there are a similar number of households looking to rent as in 2019, there are 47 per cent fewer homes available. With interest rates set to stay higher for longer and few new landlords buying, these pressures seem likely to continue in the medium term.”