Rental growth remains steady

Homelet's April 2016 Rental Index shows rent rises in all UK regions except one - the North West.

In brief -

• Average UK rent (excluding Greater London) is £764 per month –  annual growth of 5.1%.
• Average London rent is £1,543 - annual growth of 7.7%
• The fastest growth was seen by Scotland and East Midlands.
• The only fall was in the North West.

Homelet  Chief Executive, Martin Totty comments -

“The April HomeLet Rental Index has been much anticipated given the potential impact of the Stamp Duty changes on the private rental market; for now, however, rental price growth in most areas of the country is unchanged from the trends observed over almost three years.

It may be that over the next several months, the trends observed in the rental market begin to reflect the signs of some slowdown in the rate of house price growth that we are now beginning to see and that will be something to watch closely. But more broadly, there has been very little to alter the fundamental relationship between demand and supply, especially in those parts of the country where demand-side pressure is greatest.

For now it’s business as usual, which may be better news for landlords than for tenants, though landlords will no doubt be feeling the squeeze too given the various taxation changes they now need to budget for. We will have to see whether landlords try to pass their higher costs on, whether buy-to-let property investment diminishes in popularity and whether tenants are able to afford further increases in rents."

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