Price of renting reaches new record of £1,231 a month – and it’s DOUBLE that for those living in London

The average price to rent a house outside London has reached an all-time high of £1,231 per month.

The picture is even more alarming for those looking to rent in London, where typical values ​​have also hit a record £2,567 a month.

Rightmove’s data means average rents have increased by £300 a month outside London and £559 a month in London compared to pre-pandemic levels in 2019.

The price increases are the result of higher demand and a lack of available housing.

This trend means there is fierce competition among tenants for housing, with it taking just 17 days to find a tenant a home, according to Rightmove.

The average rent being asked for a typical house outside London is now 33 per cent higher than at present in 2019, up by more than £300 from £923 per month.

By contrast, average asking rents for new tenants outside London rose by just £71 – the equivalent of 8 per cent – in the previous four years between 2015 and 2019.

While the annual rate of rent increases for new tenants continues to slow marginally, it remains near double digits.

It’s a similar story in the capital, where average asking rent in London hit a new quarterly record of £2,567, and while the pace of rental growth has slowed slightly, it remains in the double digits for a seventh consecutive quarter.

Rents in London are now 28 per cent higher – the equivalent of £559 per month – than they are at this point in 2019.

Typical rents for those living in the capital have reached an all-time high of £2,567 per month

Despite rising prices, rental properties continue to sell out quickly and many landlords are still faced with long queues of potential tenants wanting to view and rent their properties, according to Rightmove.

The current average time to find a tenant for a rental property is 17 days, the fastest since last November.

Tenant demand continues to outperform last year’s frantic levels and is currently 3 percent higher than at present in 2022 and 42 percent higher than June 2019.

The gap between supply and demand has narrowed slightly compared to last year, with available rental properties up 7 percent from June 2022, though the figure remains 42 percent lower than in 2019.

The current average time to find a tenant for a rental property is 17 days, the fastest since last November

Against this backdrop, landlords are currently facing challenges from multiple directions.

A separate survey by Rightmove revealed the top concerns among landlords, including government sentiment toward the industry at 47 percent, rising taxes at 41 percent and increasing compliance requirements at 33 percent.

A quarter of landlords are also concerned about the rising costs of buy-to-let mortgages.

This is leading some landlords to sell, Rightmove insisted, as 16 percent of properties currently for sale were previously available on the rental market – a figure up from 13 percent in January 2019.

The data shows that landlords are particularly concerned about their lower EPC-rated properties ahead of proposed changes to the government’s EPC requirements.

A third of landlords who own properties with a lower EPC rating plan to sell rather than improve their EPC rating, compared to 20 percent who planned to sell last year.

Despite these challenges, landlords value having a good tenant in their home and are determined to retain good tenants for longer.

The majority — 57 percent — of landlords said tenants choose to stay in their properties for more than 24 months on average, while only 8 percent say they stay for a year or less.

Allison Thompson, of Leaders Romans Group, said: ‘The themes dominating the rental market are still low supply and high demand – an increase in the number of people wanting to rent, rather than landlords selling en masse.

“Some highly indebted landlords are considering selling because of interest rate hikes, but we find most are mortgage-free, and in most cases our advice is to avoid a hasty reaction.

The interest rate rises will probably reverse in early 2024 and in the meantime the almost total absence of vacancy will help to counteract the increased mortgage costs.’

And Tim Bannister, of Rightmove, said: ‘The number of properties available to rent continues to improve compared to last year’s record low, giving tenants more choice, although there is still a long way to go to catch up with pre-pandemic levels. There will still be more tenants who want to move than homes they can move into for the time being.

“Average rents demanded for new tenants have risen at a rapid pace since the pandemic due to the significant increase in demand, which is being driven by a combination of factors, including changing housing needs, such as some space to work from home.

“Landlords are currently facing a host of challenges, but the data suggests it remains important to build long-term relationships with good tenants, with the majority of tenants choosing to stay in their properties for more than two years.”