Record 82% rent gap between London and the rest of UK

Record 82% rent gap between London and the rest of UK

16:54 PM, 15th June 2012, About 12 years ago

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The average monthly cost of renting a buy to let home dropped by 1.3% to £760 in May, according to a new survey.

Although rents slipped back across the UK, renters are still paying more in London as average rents climbed 0.8% to £1,187 a month, says the latest monthly letting report from specialist landlord insurer Homelet.

Average rents outside London are £653 a month.

Despite the monthly drop, average rents nationwide are still 1.5% higher than the same time last year, while those in London have climbed by 5.4% compared with May 2011.

Rents in the capital are now 82% higher than the rest of the UK – the largest gap on record.

London may be the best performing region, but the worst is the North East, where tenants are moving elsewhere and rents have collapsed over the past three years.

The North East is the cheapest place to rent a home, with average rents falling by 3.3% since May 201.

The North East has the highest rate of jobless tenants in England, with 9.3% of tenants out of work.

Renting a home in the North East is an average of 20% cheaper than the rest of the UK excluding London, and 56% less than the capital.

Ian Fraser, HomeLet managing director, said: “The cost of renting a home outside London has seen both month on month and annual decreases, and now stands at £653 per month. Since April 2012, most regions have seen little movement or a slight decrease in average rental amounts.

“One area that has bucked this trend though is East Anglia, where the cost of renting a home has
risen by 10.6% over the past month.This is a stark contrast to the NorthWest that saw a monthly
decrease of 4.3%.”

“The rising cost of renting in the capital may appear to have slowed down – however, with tenants in the area paying a staggering 82% more to rent a home than those around the rest of the UK, they are still continuing to face straining monthly bills.”


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