Two new rental reports out this morning show a picture of rising demand.

According to Sequence, part of the Connells Group, the number of new tenancies agreed in the UK has increased 16% year on year.

The agency network says that demand in the UK is up 11% annually but that supply has dipped 13% over the same period.

Reporting for January, it puts the national monthly rent, excluding London, at £702, up 5% on a year ago.

The London average rent is more than double, at an average of £1,494, an increase of 7% compared with January last year.

Meanwhile referencing firm HomeLet, which reports only on newly agreed rents, said that the average rents on new tenancies signed in January were 2.5% up on December.

HomeLet puts the average newly agreed rent in the UK at £889 – compared with £799 in January 2014.

It says average new rents in London last month were £1,425.