Rents for new lets increased in the year to October, but only in rural locations, Hamptons International has reported.
Its November Monthly Lettings Index put the annual rise across the whole of Great Britain at 1.4 per cent, and the average monthly rent for newly let residential properties at £1,041. The increase was the first annual rise indicated by the index since March 2020.
But the figure masks sharp differences between rural areas, where rents were 5.5 per cent higher in October than a year ago, and cities, where they were 5.3 per cent lower.
‘This is due to a shift in tenant demand, with more renters looking to live in the country rather than cities’, said Hamptons. ‘As a result, there were 29 per cent more homes available to rent in cities and 48 per cent fewer to rent in the country during October than at the same time last year’.
Rental growth accelerated across Great Britain in all regions apart from London, down 0.6 per cent, and Wales, down 4 per cent, Hamptons reported. ‘Rents in London fell for the eighth consecutive month in October as the gap between rental growth in Inner London, down 14.9 per cent, and Outer London, up 3.3 per cent, widened to the largest differential on record’.
The biggest rental growth was seen in the North of England and the South West where rent were up by 5.9 per cent year-on-year. Rents in the North reached a record high of £689 per calendar month.
