Average UK rents rise at slowest pace in three years
UK rents rose at their slowest pace in three years in January, new research out today shows, despite still being well above their pre-crisis peak.
Countrywide’s monthly lettings index shows average rents rose by 1.2 per cent year-on-year in January to £906 per month – the slowest rate of growth since 2012 – in a sign that recent rental rises have put prices further out of reach for renters and dampened demand.
Average rents are now 12 per cent above 2007 levels, when they peaked at £809, while in London rents are 34 per cent higher than they were in 2007. Between 2007 and 2016, the average Londoner has seen their rent rise from £966 to £1,295 a month.
“Across most of London and the south east the slowdown in rental growth is the first since 2010, where rents have been growing for the past six years,” Countrywide’s research director Johnny Morris said.
However, he said renters in some parts of the country are still paying less than they were before the recession, when prices dropped by 11 per cent. In the north east, rents are £607, down from £613 in 2007.