The average rent in the UK is now £987, up 0.2% on last month, and by 2.1% on last year, new data from HomeLet has revealed.

The latest HomeLet Rental Index showed that when London is excluded, the average rent in the UK is now £828, which is up 0.4% on last month, and by 3.9% on last year.

Ten of the 12 regions monitored showed an increase in rental values between September 2019 and September 2020, with the South West seeing an increase of more than 6%. The South West also showed the highest yearly increase of 6.6% over the 12 months.

HomeTrack’s data also revealed that average rents in London are down year-on-year, showing a 2.8% fall to September, which was the fourth decrease in annual variance in subsequent months. However, the index showed that the average rental value in London (£1,646) was still 98.8% higher than the figure for the rest of the UK excluding London (£828).

Barrows and Forrester managing director, James Forrester, commented: “We’re yet to see demand for UK rental properties decline across the vast majority of the market, despite the issues posed by the wider pandemic such as an increase in unemployment and a heightened level of rental arrears.

“While we did see a fall in rental prices following lockdown, an easing of restrictions has seen the market bounce back at a similar rate to that of the housing market.

“This has been due to those who were stuck in limbo being able to resume with their rental plans and as always, an insufficient level of stock to meet this demand has seen rental prices climb sharply with the more affordable regions of the UK performing much better.”

Benham and Reeves director, Marc von Grundherr, added: “The ongoing threat of the coronavirus continues to impact demand across the London rental market, with central London hit particularly hard. 

“The market had started to build a slight head of steam as the government encouraged a return to the workplace. However, the swift change of tune just weeks later has caused a secondary slump and one that is hitting rental prices quite hard.  

“As a result, agents are slashing rents by as much as a third in an attempt to entice tenants and recoup some form of income for their clients.”

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