The average rental rate outside London is 10.8% higher than a year ago, as tenants faced “the most competitive rental market ever recorded,” according to real estate website Rightmove. This is the first time that the average annual increase outside the capital exceeded 10%, raising the average rent to 1,088 £ per month – from 982. A year ago. In London, which was temporarily unhappy with tenants earlier in the pandemic, the average rent demanded reached a record 2. 2,193 a month – up 14.3% or 4 274. From a year earlier. Rightmove said this was “the biggest annual jump in any area since the records started.” The real estate website reported that demand far exceeded supply, with prospective tenants outnumbering the number of available rental properties by more than three to one. This has been blamed on a number of factors, some related to the pandemic, with many tenants continuing to re-evaluate what they want from a home and how close they need to live to work. Rightmove said it also heard from agents and landlords that tenants were signing long-term leases, which prevented some of the shares that would normally return to the market from doing so. Rising house prices mean many prospective home buyers have had to stay in rental accommodation for longer, while many homeowners who were initially attracted by the boom in rental markets have increased rents in recent years or left the market due to regulatory and tax changes. Overall, average rents are now 15% higher than in the same period two years ago, when the pandemic just started. The increases coincide with higher energy bills and other living expenses. The site named a number of rental hotspots, with Swansea in South Wales topping the list with an annual increase of 19.7% in standard rentals. Manchester was far behind, with an increase of 19.3%, the average monthly rent increased from 894 £ to 1,067. In one year. Liverpool was another hotspot, with an annual increase of 17.1%. Others were Margate in Kent (18.8%), Grantham in Lincolnshire (14.6%) and Cardiff (14.5%). Subscribe to the daily Business Today email or follow the Guardian Business on Twitter at @BusinessDesk The figures came a day after a report by an influential House of Representatives said more than one in eight privately owned homes in England posed a serious threat to human health and safety. An estimated 11 million people rent privately in England and the sector has doubled in size in the last 20 years. Separately, the Office for National Statistics released data showing that average house prices in the UK rose by 10.9% in the 12 months to February – from 10.2% a year to January. This raised the standard price to £ 277,000 – about £ 27,000 higher than a year earlier.
