Rents in the UK’s private rented sector increased by 2% in the 12 months to May 2018 to an average of £919 per month, the latest index shows.
However, when London is excluded, the average rent in the UK is now £763, up by 1.3% on last year, according to the data from the Homelet index.
Indeed, average rents in London are £1,586, up 5.6% on last year, which is the highest regional year on year increase identified in this month’s figures.
Eleven of the 12 regions covered by the index recorded year on year rises in rents. Only Wales saw rents fall on an annual basis, down by 0.2% to an average of £604. But a number saw only marginal growth. Rents increased year on year by just 0.2% in the South West and the East of England to £805 and £911 respectively.
After London the biggest annual increase was 4.5% in Scotland, taking the average monthly rent to £650, followed by a rise of 4.1% in Northern Ireland to £634 while there was a rise of 3% in the West Midlands to £678.
Rents also increased by 2.1% in the North East of England to £533, by 2.3% in Yorkshire and Humberside to £628, by 1.9% in the North West to £692, by 1% in the South East to £1,008 and by 0.5% in the East Midlands to £617.
But month on month five regions saw rents fall. Rents fell by 0.5% in Scotland, by 0.4% in the South West, by 0.3% in the East Midlands and by 0.1% in the West Midlands and Greater London. In the North West rents were unchanged month on month.
Month on month growth was led by the North West of England with a rise of 1.9%, followed by a rise of 1.2% in Wales while rents increased by 1% in Northern Ireland, by 0.5% in Yorkshire and Humberside, by 0.9% in the South East and by 0.4% in the East of England.
The data also shows that the highest rents in London are in the borough of Westminster at £2,227 per month, followed by £2,224 in Camden and the City of London, £2,001 in Lambeth, £1,930 in Chelsea, Fulham, Hammersmith and Kensington and £1,736 in Tower Hamlets.
The cheapest rent in London is in Croydon at £1,091, followed by Barking, Dagenham and Havering at £1,228, then £1,259 in Redbridge and Waltham Forest, £1,323 in Kingston upon Thames, Merton and Sutton and £1,333 in Bexley and Greenwich.
Source: www.propertywire.com
