The performance of London property continues to be a drag on the rest of the UK, and this time it’s the rental sector being hit.

A rental index from alternative buy-to-let lender Landbay found the average rent for a property in England grew by 0.64% in the year to April, mainly dragged down by a 0.27%  drop in rents across the capital.

Annual growth would have been at 1.19% without London.

This left average rents at £1,232 during April across England including London, and £768 when the capital is removed from the index.

London was still the most expensive place to rent, at £1,878 per month on average, while the north east of England was the cheapest at £552.

The largest rental growth was in Leicester, up 3.02% cent growth in the past 12 months to £647 per month, while Kensington and Chelsea – which features among six London boroughs in the top ten areas where rents had declined – saw the steepest fall at 1.4% to £3,204.

,John Goodall, chief executive of Landbay, said:  “Falling rents in some parts of the country, especially expensive prime London locations, distort the picture for the rest of England where rents are continuing to grow at a steady pace.

“Britain will always need homes, and the growing cohort of people that can’t buy, or don’t want to, will more than ever rely on the private rental sector to house them in the years ahead.

“Rental growth may not be what it used to be, but the pace of change varies wildly between regions. Prospective landlords need to be astute to maximise their profits, using variations in rental growth and yields over the past year to pick out some of the most promising regions for buy-to-let. Consistent rental demand will obviously drive returns in the long-term, but by selecting the right location yields will be even greater.”

Top 10 regions for rental growth in April

Bottom 10 regions for rental growth in April