The average UK rent is now £979 per calendar month, up 3% compared with the same period last year, according to HomeLet’s rental index data for February.
Excluding London, the average rent in the UK is now £840pcm, showing an increase of 6.2% on last year – the highest rate of growth ever.
Ten of the 12 regions monitored by HomeLet showed annual growth in rental values between February 2020 and February 2021, led by gains in the East Midlands.
Andy Halstead HomeLet and Let Alliance CEO said: “Those in the lettings sector warned of the Tenants Fees Act’s unintended consequences, along with the impact of the continued assault on landlords through policies that disincentives property investment. We’ve seen the volume of UK landlords dip, whilst supply from tenants has continued to grow.
“Landlords have to charge more to cover their essential costs, including professional letting agents’ valued services. Ultimately this pushes increased rents back on to tenants, the same group who supposedly should have benefited from legislation like the Tenants Fees Act.
“The situation with COVID is only making this trend much more pronounced. We have high demand areas where stock levels have remained flat or even declined because tenants want to rent for longer and fewer landlords are investing in property.”
Summary by Region for Average Agreed Rental Values in the UK
| Region | Feb-21 | Jan-21 | Feb-20 | Monthly Var | Annual Var |
| East Midlands | £704 | £698 | £651 | 0.9% | 8.1% |
| South West | £914 | £919 | £849 | -0.5% | 7.7% |
| East Of England | £978 | £979 | £916 | -0.1% | 6.8% |
| South East | £1,087 | £1,094 | £1,018 | -0.6% | 6.8% |
| West Midlands | £749 | £741 | £708 | 1.1% | 5.8% |
| Yorkshire & Humberside | £680 | £680 | £645 | 0.0% | 5.4% |
| North East | £542 | £540 | £517 | 0.4% | 4.8% |
| North West | £782 | £775 | £755 | 0.9% | 3.6% |
| Wales | £673 | £675 | £650 | -0.3% | 3.5% |
| Scotland | £678 | £683 | £672 | -0.7% | 0.9% |
| Northern Ireland | £662 | £648 | £669 | 2.2% | -1.0% |
| Greater London | £1,572 | £1,563 | £1,650 | 0.6% | -4.7% |
| UK | £984 | £981 | £955 | 0.3% | 3.0% |
| UK excluding Greater London | £840 | £839 | £791 | 0.1% | 6.2% |
Rents in London continue to fall, with the capital seeing a record drop of 4.7% in rental prices.
Some 11 of the 21 London borough groupings monitored by HomeLet continue to show a Y-O-Y decrease in rental values against last year.
Summary by London Borough for Average Agreed Rental Value
| Borough | Jan-21 | Dec-20 | Jan-20 | Monthly Variation | Annual Variation |
| Croydon | £1,126 | £1,092 | £1,070 | 3.1% | 5.2% |
| Enfield | £1,614 | £1,595 | £1,537 | 1.2% | 5.0% |
| Redbridge and Waltham Forest | £1,304 | £1,260 | £1,269 | 3.5% | 2.8% |
| Harrow and Hillingdon | £1,380 | £1,392 | £1,360 | -0.9% | 1.5% |
| Bromley | £1,417 | £1,448 | £1,399 | -2.1% | 1.3% |
| Hounslow and Richmond upon Thames | £1,525 | £1,481 | £1,518 | 3.0% | 0.5% |
| Wandsworth | £1,815 | £1,820 | £1,806 | -0.3% | 0.5% |
| Bexley and Greenwich | £1,356 | £1,380 | £1,351 | -1.7% | 0.4% |
| Barnet | £1,562 | £1,566 | £1,556 | -0.3% | 0.4% |
| Westminster | £2,251 | £2,273 | £2,248 | -1.0% | 0.1% |
| Brent | £1,523 | £1,563 | £1,545 | -2.6% | -1.4% |
| Hammersmith, Fulham, Kensington and Chelsea | £1,976 | £1,906 | £2,029 | 3.7% | -2.6% |
| Barking, Dagenham and Havering | £1,258 | £1,288 | £1,294 | -2.3% | -2.8% |
| Merton, Kingston upon Thames and Sutton | £1,338 | £1,334 | £1,378 | 0.3% | -2.9% |
| Ealing | £1,421 | £1,497 | £1,481 | -5.1% | -4.1% |
| Lambeth | £2,065 | £1,999 | £2,208 | 3.3% | -6.5% |
| Hackney and Newham | £1,448 | £1,424 | £1,564 | 1.7% | -7.4% |
| Lewisham and Southwark | £1,549 | £1,555 | £1,737 | -0.4% | -10.8% |
| Haringey and Islington | £1,556 | £1,534 | £1,786 | 1.4% | -12.9% |
| Camden, City of London | £1,775 | £1,795 | £2,167 | -1.1% | -18.1% |
| Tower Hamlets | £1,506 | £1,513 | £1,877 | -0.5% | -19.8% |
Most landlords will be extremely happy with rent increases of between 3% and 5% each year.
Maybe Shelter should reimburse tenants for driving up their rents … exactly as we all predicted.
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Alternative view as a landlord I would have been happier with less unnecessary regulation (such as losing s21 limiting deposits etc) and lower rents. Reason being loss of control equals higher risks and higher rents which is not good for the market in the longer term. Higher rents due to less landlords. Higher rents equals increased risk of rent controls demand from crackpot charities. Tenants in reality suffer. Tenants tempted and fooled by politicians offering more and more so called protection without understanding the eventual costs to themselves of those so called protections. Yeah a % of ******* landlords but vast majority provide a decent service. Over-interference does not work. But like spoilt kids the Gov will not realise until they push it too far as they did with the Rent Act of 1977.
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Polly at shelter must be very pleased with herself! Doesn’t listen to landlords or the lettings industry, blunders ahead persuading a gullible government to keep legislating and introducing more red tape for landlords & agents. Still, she’s on a very comfortable salary and pension, a few more years and she’ll disappear into her retirement leaving a chaotic PRS behind her!
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Can only get worse as stamp duty will stop majority of new BTL and loosing landlords from over regulation, to an ever growing demand from renters.
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