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27 January: Rents Hit Record Highs As Demand Outstrips Supply
Rents across the country are at record highs, according to Rightmove, writes Jo Thornhill.
Outside London, they stand at an average of £1,172 a month, an almost 8% increase compared to a year ago.
In the capital, the average asking rent has reached a record at £2,480 per month, while for inner London average rents surpassed £3,000 for the first time.
Last year saw the second biggest annual increase in rents for newly-listed properties, behind only the rise seen in 2021.
Rightmove is predicting average asking rents will continue to rise by an estimated 5% this year unless there is a significant increase in the number of available homes to let.
The property platform cites the imbalance between demand and supply for pushing up asking rents. But it says there are encouraging signs for tenants that competition for available properties is easing slightly.
It says the number of properties for rent in December 2022 was 13% higher than in December 2021 – the biggest annual jump since 2013. Competition between tenants for properties dropped by 6%, compared to the same time last year.
Wales and the South West have seen the biggest uplift in the number of available properties, by 15% and 13% respectively. This has led to a 1% drop in respective average asking rents, the first quarterly drop in average asking rents for any region since the beginning of 2021.
That said, the number of properties to rent nationally is still down by 38% compared with pre-pandemic levels in 2019, while the number of people enquiring about a property to rent is