National asking rents outside London have hit an all-time high of more than £1,000 for the first time, according to newly released figures.

Rightmove’s Quarterly Rental Trends Tracker, released this morning, shows that the number of prospective tenants contacting agents about properties for rent is currently 10% higher than in July last year across Great Britain.

The average asking rent is now higher than this time last year in every region except London, although the capital is starting to see an improvement.

Asking rents in London increased by 1.5% in the seconds quarter of the year compared to Q1, marking the first increase since Q1 2020 before the pandemic started. They are now down by 3.1% annually, with the quarterly increase being driven by the outer London zones.

At the start of this year Rightmove reported double-digit annual declines in some of the biggest city centres across Britain, and a flood of rental properties entering the market as many tenants chose to move out of cities. There are now signs that tenants are starting to return, helping to stabilise or increase rents.

In Nottingham city centre, asking rents are up annually by 6.8%, and the next best performing city centre is Liverpool, where rents are up by 3.8%.

Inner London, where asking rents are down 6.8%, and Edinburgh – down 4% – are yet to recover, but higher tenant demand is likely to lead to rents rising again over the coming months.

Areas that have seen the biggest rent rises over the past year include city suburbs, commuter towns and coastal locations. Rochdale, Folkestone and Farnham have all seen asking rents jump by more than 25%.

The time it is taking for a letting agent to find a tenant for a property is at a record low of 21 days nationally, measured from the date they are first marketed on Rightmove until the property is marked as let agreed. This pace has led to a drop in available stock of 36% across Great Britain.

Rightmove’s director of property data Tim Bannister said: “At the start of this year the impact that tenants leaving cities had on rents was clear to see, but with restrictions continuing to lift we’re seeing signs of the city centre comeback. As businesses settle into a more structured balance between home and office time, we expect this to continue for the rest of the year.

“Tenants across Britain are being faced with low stock and record rents in many areas, likely fuelled by some tenants signing longer leases last year and also perhaps by a rush of people who chose to move back in with family last year, who are now making plans to rent again and in many cases starting to think about their new daily commute. We’re also starting to see signs of London rents creeping up again, but they’re still lower than two years ago so it will take time.”