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Once again, rental prices are going up, up and away. Figures released from Rightmove reveal that tenants in London are being asked to pay a record of £2,567 per month for rent, with tenants outside of London averaging £1,231 each month.
Since 2019, the asking rent in London has increased by a whopping £559 which is a 28% rise, whilst those outside London have been hit with a 33% increase in asking rent, increasing by £308 from £923 per month.
Rightmove’s director of property science Tim Bannister has said, “average asking rents for new tenants have risen at a rapid pace since the pandemic, reflecting the significant increase in demand.” Tim remarks that there has been a recent change in housing needs, such as needing space to work from home, which has driven the price.
Along with the soaring rent increases, the average time it takes to find a tenant is 17 days, the quickest time recorded in Rightmove data since November 2022.
Matt Hutchinson, the CEO of SpareRoom, has remarked on the effect that this rent increase will have on renters, saying “one huge issue is that renters are simply staying put to avoid higher rents, even if they want to move. People are even turning down job offers and career opportunities to avoid having to move in such a manic market.”
Matt also credits this rent price increase to a big drop in supply of properties that has happened over the past few years, “government is pushing smaller buy to let landlords out of the market, but nobody’s replacing them. So we’re losing huge chunks of rental stock, much of which is going to short-term and holiday lets.”
Rightmove has confirmed that now around 16% of properties currently for sale were previously available on the rental market, which as risen from 13% in 2019.
Director at Zoopla Richard Donnell comments on the compounded pressures that renters are facing amidst these rising price increases, saying “renters continue to face a relentless increase in rents, which is compounded by wider cost of living pressures and making home moving decisions ever more challenging, especially for singles and those on lower incomes.”