Rents hit new record highs across the country

Average asking rents in inner London have soared past £3,000 per month for the first time, according to Rightmove.

The property portal has published data for the fourth quarter of 2022 and it also reveals that the capital’s rents leapt by 5.8% on the previous quarter to reach £2,480.

However, it appears that 2023 has seen competition for rental homes easing with a growing supply of property for renters – but there’s still an issue with supply and demand.

Rents outside of London

Rents outside of the capital have also set a record, Rightmove says, with a new high of £1,172 per month – that’s an increase of 9.7% in a year.

The number of properties available to rent increased by 13%, the biggest jump since 2013.

Tenants enquiring about rental properties rose by 7% in the same period, and that’s a 53% rise compared to 2019.

Rightmove predicts that national average asking rents for newly available properties will rise a further 5% this year – unless there is an increase in the number of homes to rent.

Elsewhere, Wales and the South West saw the biggest rise in the number of properties to rent. This led to a drop of 1% in average asking prices.

‘Landlords need to balance rent rises’

Rightmove’s director of property science, Tim Bannister, said: “Although the fierce competition among tenants to find a home is starting to ease, it is still double the level it was back in 2019.

“Letting agents are seeing extremely high volumes of tenant enquiries and dealing with tens of potential tenants for each available property.”

He added: “Landlords will need to balance any rent rises with what tenants can afford to pay in their local area, to continue to find tenants quickly and avoid any periods where their home is empty due to tenants not being able to meet the asking rent.”

He says that there is more property choice for renters compared to the record low levels of last year which will help with the levels of competition.

Mr Bannister said: “This is why we’re forecasting that the pace of annual growth will ease to around 5% by the end of the year nationally, although this would still significantly exceed the average of 2% that we saw during the five years before the pandemic.”

‘No sign of the rental market slowing down’

James Redington, the sales and lettings director at Douglas and Gordon, said: “There is no sign of the rental market slowing down due to the continuing imbalance between supply and demand.

“We’ve seen the highest rent increases we’ve seen for decades, and we don’t expect this to slow down in the short term.”

Simon Leigh, a director at Hackney and Leigh, said: “The rental market remains buoyant, and the majority of our landlords are still receiving multiple applications on their properties.

“Rents have remained stable, due in part to the cautious approach from landlords when considering rent increases at renewal stage, preferring to retain good tenants rather than have even a small void period, or incur the associated costs.”

He added: “Given the widely reported cost of living crisis, tenants who have been affected are generally being proactive in approaching us with any financial concerns, allowing us to work with them where possible and assist them in managing their issues.”

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