RENTS ROCKETING

Rents are rising fastest in Northern Ireland, the East Midlands,

THE speed at which rents are rising has increased in recent months - after a slowdown during the pandemic. Private rental prices paid by tenants in the UK increased by 2.7% in the year to April 2022, the Office for National Statistics has said, representing the largest annual growth rate since figures began in January 2016.

Propertymark, which is the leading professional body for letting agents, reported a big disparity between supply and demand in its March Private Rented Sector Report. An average member branch reported having just eight properties that were empty and freely available in March, although that was up from five in February.

An average of 93 new applicants were registered per member branch in March, a big jump from 78 in February. Tenants were staying in their rental property longer, at 23 months on average, up from 21.

Nathan Emerson, CEO of

Propertymark, said: “The private rented market needs significant investment just to get it back to the point where it can cope with the demand which has been pushing rents up sharply in recent months, adding to the cost of living.

“Many landlords are already selling up and our member agents tell us those properties are not staying in the rental market. One says properties available to rent are down 47% with inquiries from potential tenants up 60%. This is unsustainable.

“In renewing its commitment in the Queen’s Speech to getting rid of Section 21, the quickest and simplest mechanism by which a landlord can regain possession if needed, the UK Government has said it will strengthen legitimate grounds for taking possession of a property. We need to know what that will look like without delay if this important area of the housing market is to regain the confidence of investors.”

According to the ONS, growth in private rental prices across the UK was broadly flat between November 2019 and the end of 2020. The beginning of 2021 saw a slowdown in rental price growth, which was driven by prices in London, where the cost of renting actually fell in some months in 2021.

This may have been related to a falling population in the capital. The Economic Statistics Centre of Excellence (ESCoE) reported almost 700,000 foreign-born residents may have left the city in 2020 after the start of the pandemic, while property sites like Rightmove reported falling interest in London with more people looking to move elsewhere.

Private rental price growth across the rest of UK remained mostly stable during the early part of 2021 before prices started to rise towards the end of last year and into this one. This growth has continued to increase in recent months, with an increase in rental price growth in London as well since the start of 2022.

Where you live could mean seeing the cost of rent rise faster. While London rent prices rose by 1.1% in the year to April, a jump from 0.4 in March, that was the smallest increase for any region.

The biggest increase was in Northern Ireland, where rents were up 6.5% in the year to March. That was followed by a 4.0% rise in the East Midlands, and 3.7% rises in the East and South West.