Tenants experience average rents rising 11% to £1,162

Average rent asking prices outside London hit a new high of £1,162 per month in the third quarter of this year, jumping 3.2 per cent over the previous three-month period and 11 per cent a year ago, according to Rightmove.

This is only the third time ever that rents have risen more than 3 percent in a quarter. Rents rose faster in the second quarter of this year, rising 3.5 percent over the three-month period.

Within London, the typical rent is now £2,343 – an increase of 3.8 per cent in the last three months and 16.1 per cent in a year.

Demand for rental properties is outpacing supply across the country, even though the number of properties available outside the capital has risen by 9 percent. However, in the same period the demand increased by 20 percent.

Rightmove said the pace of growth was driven by an acute shortage of available rental properties, combined with very high demand which continues to exceed last year’s levels in every region of the UK.

Rising rent prices are putting additional pressure on tenants amid a worsening cost-of-living crisis. In September, inflation rose to a 40-year high of 10.1 percent, driven in part by food costs, which rose 14.6 percent in the 12 months through September.

Tim Bannister, Director of Property Sciences at Rightmove, said: ‘It’s a real challenge for renters right now, as there aren’t enough homes available to rent to meet the demand from people inquiring about it.

We’re going to need a significant addition of homes to come to market in order to start balancing the scales. Those looking to rent a smaller property in the next few months may find they face some additional competition from potential first-time buyers, who have had their purchase plans canceled for the time being due to the sudden rise in mortgage interest rates, and are now looking to rent.

Citizens Advice, a nonprofit organization that provides free financial advice, reported a spike in the number of people it helped with homeless issues this year.

By the end of September, the organization had helped more homeless people than it had at the same point in the previous three years.

Given the rent increases, many welcomed the assertion last week from outgoing Prime Minister Liz Truss that the government is keeping its pledge to revoke the right of landlords to issue no-fault evictions.

Usama Bouta, campaigns director at the charity Housing Refuge, greeted the news at the time saying: ‘Private rent is completely broken – anything short of a wholesale fix will not give private renters the security and stability they need.

“Now the government must also stay true to its word by banning discrimination against low-income families and ensuring that privately rented homes are decent and safe.”

However, Liz Truss’ shock resignation Thursday left the country facing yet another leadership election, and it’s unclear what policies will survive under the next administration. It has also confirmed that it intends to abandon the Conservative Party’s commitment to building 300,000 homes a year by the middle of 2020.

In September, the shelter revealed that one in seven tenants had seen a rent increase in August. Moreover, the data highlighted that one in three (2.6 million adults) spends at least half of their household income on rent, while nearly 2.5 million tenants are either late or constantly struggle to pay their rent – a figure that increased by 45 percent. 100th since April 2022.

Tenants were forced to live in smaller homes to save money

The charity highlighted the plight of Andrew, 38, who lives in a one-bedroom flat near Brighton with his partner and shares custody of his children from his previous marriage.

He works as a full time engineer. Recently his landlord has paid his rent at £155 a month, £100 more than he said they had agreed, making him unaffordable and forcing him to move.

“On my budget, I couldn’t afford a one-bedroom apartment in the area, so when my kids are away every weekend, I sleep on the couch, my partner sleeps on the camp bed, and the kids sleep in our bed and a bunk bed in the bedroom,” he says.

The trend towards downsizing to save money is reflected in Rightmove’s data, which shows studio apartments have overtaken single-family apartments as the most requested apartment type for renters.

The agents suggest that stretched budgets and the popular resurgence of city centers are contributing to this shift.

There are now four times as many renters looking for a studio flat as there are studio flats available, up 71 per cent from last year.

Regionally, South West Yorkshire and the Humber and Wales saw the most new properties on the market, with numbers each rising by 19 per cent, 12 per cent and 10 per cent respectively.

In London, average rents required have risen to a record £2,343 per month, according to Rightmove. This puts the annual rate of rent growth in the capital at 16.1 percent, the highest annual rate of growth on record of any region.

Separate data from housing developer Pocket Living shows that more than a quarter (27 per cent) of London renters are considering leaving the city next year because of the cost of living crisis.

More than half (54 per cent) of renters considering moving from the capital say they don’t want to leave but feel they have no choice.