Average monthly rent outside London passes £1,000 for first time

This comes less than three years after the average rent for the whole of Great Britain, including London, last passed the same milestone in July 2020.

Over the last year, the average rent in Yorkshire has risen 11.5 per cent to £861 per calendar month, an increase of £88 and faster than the national average.

The average rent now exceeds £1,000 per calendar month in three of the 10 regions outside of London: the East of England, South West and South East.

Across Great Britain as a whole, rents rose 11.1 per cent year-on-year in April to reach a new high of £1,249 per calendar month. This marked the second strongest month for rental growth across the country on record, only to be outpaced by the annual increase of 11.5 per cent recorded in May 2022.

Aneisha Beveridge, head of research at Hamptons, said: “It was back in July 2020 that the average rent across the whole of Great Britain (including London) last passed the £1,000 pcm mark. But just 34 months later, soaring rents since Covid have meant that the average rent in the regions outside of London has passed that same milestone.

"While rents nationally saw their second biggest annual rise in April, they’ve still failed to keep pace with wider inflation for nine of the last 12 months.

“With rents on the open market rising quickly, tenants will face the choice of staying put or moving to a smaller home in a more affordable area.

“While anyone choosing to sit tight tends to face smaller rental increases than those moving home, they are not immune.

"Affordability constraints will likely hit the brakes on rental growth at some point this year, however, it’s unlikely to slow considerably due to the number of landlords looking to pass on their rising costs.”

Overall, rents across Great Britain have risen 25 per cent since the eve of Covid, costing the average tenant an extra £2,962 each year.

London continues to post the strongest rental growth. The average rent on a new let in Greater London hit £2,210 per calendar month in April,17.2 per cent higher than the same month last year.

This meant that April also marked the first time that the average monthly rent in the capital surpassed £2,200 per calendar month, which will cost the average tenant an extra £3,895 a year if they were to move into a new rental home.

Rents in Inner London continued to fuel rental growth. The average monthly rent in Inner London crossed the £3,000 per calendar month mark for the first time in March to £3,047.

In April, the average Inner London rent rose to £3,138.

Last month, average rents reached new records in seven out of Great Britain’s 11 regions.

Wales, the South West and the North East were the only regions where average rents remained slightly below their peak.

Like London, Scotland also saw double-digit rental growth (12.8 per cent) in April for homes where a new tenant moved in.