The east of England has overtaken the south-east as the most expensive region to rent outside of London.

The Your Move Buy to Let Index for March in England and Wales showed rents in east England rose 1.4% on a monthly basis in March and 7.4% annually to £883.

The north-east remained the cheapest place to rent at £525 a month on average, while overall average rents in England and Wales were £800 in March.

Overall, average Scottish rent was 3.8% higher than a year ago at £565 a month.

Separately, Foxtons has reported that London rents continued to fall during the first quarter of this year.

However, the firm is predicting that demand will absorb stock levels in the capital later this year.

Foxtons says rental stock increased for the third quarter in a row, pushing rents downwards.

Weekly rents in Zone 1 fell from £586 to £513 in comparison to the first quarter of 2016.

They fell from £457 to £430 on a yearly basis in Zone 2 and from £396 to £385 in Zone 3-6.

The largest flats, those with three beds or more, in the most central parts of the capital continue to be the most impacted by falls in rental prices, dropping 14.5% in the quarter compared with last year to £875 a week.

Meanwhile, larger flats in outer London have fared much better with just small falls in rents over the past year.

For example, rents on a one-bed flat in Zone 2 fell 2.7% to £360, while studios increased 4.5% to £299 compared with the first quarter of 2016.

Ed Phillips, Foxtons’ lettings managing director, said: “Providing we don’t see another surge in supply, we would expect this heightened interest to help balance out the stock levels and alleviate falls in rental prices later in the year.

“Although total returns across London are currently lower than in recent years, the residential property market still remains a profitable and attractive asset class offering strong returns.”