New-let rents rise 2.4% as northern rents top £1,000

The cost of taking on a new rented home rose at its fastest rate for nearly two years in August, with rents across Great Britain rising by 2.4% over 12 months.

Hamptons says the average new let rent reached £1,419, as the annual rate of growth increased for a tenth consecutive month.

Outside London, rents rose more quickly, with the South West recording a 5.4% increase and the South East up 3.7%.

August also brought a new milestone in the North, where the average cost of a newly let home moved above £1,000 a month for the first time.

Rent pressure builds

Hamptons’ head of research, Aneisha Beveridge, said: “Rental growth for new lets has been steadily gathering pace for nearly a year now, with much of that increase being driven by markets outside London.

“The arrival of the Renters’ Rights Act seems to be adding further pressure.”

She added: “Higher compliance costs and extra administration have left prospective tenants facing increased prices to secure new tenancies, even while existing renters are seeing more modest increases.”

Northern rents pass £1,000

Tenants taking on a new home in the North are now paying more than £1,000 a month on average, a threshold the region had not previously crossed.

The typical rent reached £1,014 in August, up from £986 a year earlier, an increase of 2.8%.

In the North West, the average climbed 2.9% to £1,080. Yorkshire and the Humber saw the same annual increase, although its average remained below four figures at £973, while the North East stood at £907 following a 2.5% rise.

The Midlands crossed the £1,000 mark in April 2024.

Its average new-let rent has since reached £1,073, 1.2% higher than a year ago.

Existing tenants pay less

Across all tenants, and not just those moving home, the average monthly rent rose by 2% over the year to £1,260.

That is £159 below the £1,419 average paid by somebody moving into a newly let property.

Where an existing tenant did receive a rent increase, the average rise remained at 5.6%.

Scotland recorded the largest average increase for existing tenants in August at 6.9%.

The average rent across all Scottish tenants was £856 a month, up 3.2% year on year.