Britain’s rental market is continuing to operate at two quite different speeds, according to Hamptons’ latest lettings index.
Rents have fallen in parts of London and the South, but growth has continued in much of the Midlands and North, leaving the national average broadly flat, despite renewal increases outside the capital.
The average rent on a newly let home edged down by 0.2% in the year to January, with the typical monthly rent at £1,366. Hamptons says the pace of decline is now beginning to stabilise after several months of moderation.
Renewal increases
Tenants renewing contracts, however, saw their rents rise by 2.8% over the same period, lifting the average renewed rent to £1,305 per month and, excluding London, renewed rents increased by 5.2% year-on-year to £1,070.
The slowdown is being largely driven by southern markets. Inner London rents have now been falling annually for 13 consecutive months, with Outer London recording eight months of annual declines and four months in the South East. Together, those regions account for roughly a third of Britain’s rental homes.
Midlands and North buck trend
Elsewhere, growth remains positive. Newly agreed rents rose by 1.5% in the Midlands and by 1.3% in the North, with the North West posting the strongest increase at 3.0%. Wales, the East of England and the South West all recorded growth of less than 1%.
Scotland’s landlords saw some of the toughest conditions, with rents tipping into annual decline for the first time since July 2020 and new let rents slipping by 0.2%. Hamptons attributes this to the unwinding of the steep rises that occurred after rent controls were enforced from 2022 to April 2025. In just one year during that period (2022 -2023), rents there shot up by an average of 10%.
Commenting on the figures, Aneisha Beveridge, Head of Research at Hamptons, said:
“While newly agreed rents continue to record small annual falls, the pace of decline has stabilised. And as has been the case for the last two years, tenants renewing their contracts are seeing the larger rises. With rent increases due to be open to tribunal challenge from May, many landlords are using the months ahead to ensure their rents are aligned as closely as possible to market levels.”
Landlords incorporating
At the same time, landlord ownership structures have been evolving as they react to the tighter regulatory and fiscal conditions. A record 66,587 new limited companies were formed to hold buy-to-let property in 2025, up 8% on the previous year and 363% higher than a decade ago. Incorporations have continued to accelerate into 2026, running 11% ahead of January last year.
According to Beveridge:
“While the tougher tax treatment introduced in 2016 sparked the initial move into corporate structures, five years of frozen personal allowances, combined with the impact of higher mortgage rates, which company landlords can fully offset against their tax bill, have fuelled the more recent surge.”
She added:
“Today, limited company ownership makes financial sense for the majority of landlords, with around 75%-80% of all new buy-to-let purchases now made via a company. But it isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach. For landlords who earn no income beyond their rents and remain lower-rate taxpayers, owning property in personal names can still be the better option, particularly as above-inflation increases have pushed up Companies House filing fees.”Bottom of Form
