Rents have increased across seven regions in England and Wales over the last twelve months as well as in London month-on-month, a new index by Your Move revealed.
The average rent across England and Wales was sitting at £814 in April, 1.3% more than one month ago and 2.8% higher than twelve months ago, the index showed.
Wales was leading the rental price ladder for annual growth with an average rent of £599 a month in May, an increase by 7.1% from one year ago.
England’s East saw prices increase by 4.1%, to £872, over the last year, the South East saw increase of 2.6%, the North West of 2.5%, the East Midlands of 2.2% and Yorkshire and the Humber of 2%.
London’s rental market seems to show a very slow recovery, with prices inching up by 0.2% between April and May to an average of £1,276. These prices are still 1.5% below the average from May 2016 of £1,295.
The South east is the only region outside of London that saw rents fall faster year-on-year with a drop of 2.2% to £663.
When it comes to a monthly comparison, seven regions saw rents increase or keep steady and only Wales, England’s East and the North East experienced a drop between April and May, down 0.5%, 0.4% and 0.1% respectively.
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This means the country’s North East is still the cheapest place to rent a property at £544 a month.
Valerie Bannister, lettings director at Your Move, said:
“The majority of England and Wales saw rents increase between Theresa May’s election announcement in April and this survey being conducted in May. Even London, which had seen rents fall in recent months, has returned to growth.”
“Prices in the capital grew on a monthly basis for the first time since November 2016. While landlords have seen yields squeezed in recent times, there are signs this could be stabilising. Returns this month were 4.4%, the same as in April,” she continued.
