Monthly rent outside the capital surpassed £1,000 for the first time
The cost of an average monthly rent on a newly let property in Great Britain outside of London surpassed the £1,000 mark for the first time, according to residential estate agent Hamptons.
Over the last year, the average rent outside the capital has risen 7.8% to £1,002 per month, which puts it 26% higher than on the eve of the COVID-19 pandemic in February 2020. This increase will cost the average tenant an extra £868 a year if they were to move to a new home outside of London.
The average rent now exceeds the £1,000 per month mark in three of the 10 regions outside of London, namely East of England, South West, and South East.
The latest Hamptons Monthly Lettings Index also showed that across Great Britain as a whole, rents rose 11.1% year-on-year in April to reach a new high of £1,249 per month – the second strongest month for rental growth across the country on record.
Overall, rents across Great Britain have risen 25% since the eve of the pandemic, costing the average tenant an extra £2,962 each year.
“It was back in July 2020 that the average rent across the whole of Great Britain, including London, last passed the £1,000 pcm mark,” Aneisha Beveridge (pictured), head of research at Hamptons, commented. “But just 34 months later, soaring rents since COVID have meant that the average rent in the regions outside of London has passed that same milestone.
“While rents nationally saw their second biggest annual rise in April, they’ve still failed to keep pace with wider inflation for nine of the last 12 months.”
Beveridge added that with rents on the open market rising quickly, tenants will face the choice of staying put or moving to a smaller home in a more affordable area.
“While anyone choosing to sit tight tends to face smaller rental increases than those moving home, they are not immune,” she noted. “Affordability constraints will likely hit the brakes on rental growth at some point this year, however, it’s unlikely to slow considerably due to the number of landlords looking to pass on their rising costs.”
London posts strongest annual rental growth
The average rent on a new let in Greater London hit £2,210 per month in April, 17.2% higher than the same month last year. This is also the first time that the average monthly rent in the capital surpassed £2,200, which will cost the average tenant an extra £3,895 a year if they were to move into a new rental home.
Rents in Inner London continued to fuel rental growth, with the average monthly rent crossing the £3,000 mark for the first time in March at £3,047. In April, the average Inner London rent rose to £3,138, 24.9% or £625 per month higher than the same month last year. This means that the gap between Inner and Outer London rents has returned to £1,104 or 54%.
Despite this, Hamptons said rental growth across London since the COVID-19 pandemic has lagged most of the country. The average rent in Inner London has risen 21% since February 2020, while in Outer London it’s up 22%. The South West, North West, and North East have recorded the strongest growth since then, with rents up 31%.
Last month, average rents reached new records in seven out of Great Britain’s 11 regions. Wales, the South West, and the North East were the only regions where average rents remained slightly below their peak. Like London, Scotland also saw double-digit rental growth in April at 12.8% for homes where a new tenant moved in.
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