New rents have hit their lowest average level for seven months as the sector enters its traditionally quiet season, says Goodlord.

The lettings platform analyses new tenancies it helped process for November in England and Wales and claims average rents decreased to £898 from £925 a month before.

This is the lowest rent recorded since March, when rents also averaged £898.

Rents decreased by the most in the north-west of England, down 5% on a monthly basis to £663.

Wales had the only increase, up 3% over the month to £662.

The highest rents remained in London at £1,630, which was down 3% on a monthly basis.

Goodlord also claimed that void periods have increased to 24 days, up from 18 in October.

The east midlands saw the biggest jump in void periods, up 11 days to 28.

Tom Mundy, chief operating officer at Goodlord, said: “As these numbers suggest, we can expect to see longer void periods and slightly lower rental averages as Christmas approaches and winter continues, which traditionally tends to be a slower period for lettings.

“Void periods are likely to creep up further in the coming months – January had the longest average void periods over the course of 2019 at 29 days, a trend that held throughout the winter months before dipping down dramatically during the summer.”