UK rents climb to record high

The cost of renting privately in Britain has reached a record high, but tenants can take heart from signs that the rate of increase is slowing.

Renters outside London paid an average of £1,291 per month for newly listed properties in the first quarter of 2024, according to data from the property website Rightmove – a year-on-year increase of 8.5%. In "hotspot locations such as Reading and Coventry", rental rates went up by almost 20%, said The Guardian.

London rents "also hit a fresh high", said The Independent, rising 5.3% to reach an average of £2,633.

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But the overall pace of rent increases is slowing – a development that would be welcomed by tenants, Rightmove said. 

According to the Office for National Statistics, between February 2023 and 2024, the average cost of renting in the UK rose by 9% – the highest since the ONS began compiling rent growth data in 2015. 

Rent rises have been blamed "largely on demand greatly outstripping supply", said The Guardian, but have been "exacerbated" by landlords trying to "pass on big increases in their costs caused by higher interest rates".

Despite the record average rents, there are signs emerging that "more landlords are having to reduce their asking rents, particularly for bigger homes, to meet what tenants can afford", said The Independent. 

Price reductions have reached a five-year high, with 22% of rental listings reducing their rates, compared to 16% in the same period last year.

The rental market is "no longer at peak boiling point, but it remains at a very hot simmer", said Tim Bannister, Rightmove's director of property science.

Renting a property in the UK remains both difficult and expensive. Letting agents are fielding an average of 13 inquiries per property, Rightmove said. This is down from 19 at this time last year, but still nearly triple the average of five in March 2019.