The average rental costs for a property in England has risen in the year to April by 0.64%, bringing the monthly average price to £1,232 per month, despite rental costs in London falling by 0.27%, according to the latest Landbay Rental Index.

The regions of England that experienced the highest levels of rental growth were Leicester (3.02%), Nottingham (2.96%) and Northamptonshire (2.44%), while a further eight of the top ten ‘rental risers’ were situated in either the East Midlands or East of England. The two regions, as well as the South West, continue to “lead the way” in terms of rental growth, with annual increases of 2.06% and 1.54% respectively.

There were six London boroughs that featured in the UK’s bottom ten ‘rental fallers’ over the past 12 months, including Kensington and Chelsea (1.40%), Kingston-upon-Thames (0.98%), Hammersmith and Fulham (0.81%), Tower Hamlets (0.79%), Barnet (0.69%) and Harrow (0.68%). In total, over half of the London boroughs experienced rental prices fall in the last year, while Bexley, Havering and City of London have seen rental increases of 1.37%, 1.30% and 1.19% respectively.

The average rental price in London now sits at £1,232 per month. However, if you exclude London, the average rental price is £768.

The lowest average rental prices are found in the North East at £552 where, according to the survey, “rents have shown very modest long-term growth over the past five years”, increasing by 1.8% in this time.

Landbay CEO and co-founder John Goodall said: “Falling rents in some parts of the country, especially expensive prime London locations, distort the picture for the rest of England where rents are continuing to grow at a steady pace. Wherever they’re based, landlords have had to face a significant amount of complex legislation in recent years, most of which has cost them a lot of money, so it wouldn’t be surprising if they were to dramatically hike rents later in the year to recoup their losses.

“Partnered with the fact that rental demand shows no signs of giving up, prices will continue to rise over the coming years unless the government takes action. Without a radical house building plan for both first-time buyers and purpose-built rental properties, there is no way supply will ever be able to catch up with demand.”

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