UK house prices: Rents growing across the UK for only the third time on record
Rental prices rose in every region across the UK in the year to May, with the South West surging forward with double digit growth.
According to data from HomeLet, prices across all regions grew on a monthly basis too – only the third time the index has shown growth in all 12 regions – it happened once last year in October, and once back in December 2010.
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Price growth was strongest in the south west at 13.6 per cent and weakest in Wales, where growth was 0.4 per cent.
Prices were highest in London by a margin of more than £500, showing the vast disparity between the capital and other regions.
Comparing the three months to April with the three months to May shows London and the South East surging away from the rest of the rest of the country, with only Scotland able to keep up.
Martin Totty, HomeLet’s chief executive officer, said:
After a short period of London rents rising more slowly, when it seemed the rest of the UK may catch up or even exceed the capital in the speed at which rent prices were increasing, we now see the rate of price rises in London returning towards double digit growth, while the rest of the UK continues to rise steadily.