The latest Hamptons Monthly Lettings Index saw average rents surpass the £1,200 mark for the first time after it breached £1,000 milestone back in June 2019
The average rent in Great Britain rose to £1,204 per month in October, a 7.1% year-on-year growth or the equivalent of an additional £80, costing the average tenant an extra £960 each year.
The latest Hamptons Monthly Lettings Index saw average rents surpass the £1,200 mark for the first time after it breached £1,000 milestone back in June 2019.
Since January 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown started, rents have risen 19% across Great Britain, equating to an additional £2,351 a year in rent. Hamptons noted that there was more rental growth since the beginning of the pandemic than in – at least – the eight years prior.
London remained the least affordable region, with the average rent taking up 62% of the average renting household’s post-tax income. However, weaker rental growth in the capital meant that this had increased by just 1% in the past two years.
Rents in Inner London reached a new record high of £2,863 per month in October. In October, the average Inner London home cost 9% more to rent than it did in January 2020.
Hamptons also reported that the pace of rental growth across Great Britain had stabilised in recent months, as stock levels crept up for a second consecutive month. There were 15% more homes available to rent in October 2022 than in October 2021, and London was now the only region where there were fewer homes available to rent than last year.
Strong rental growth has pushed average rents into another £100 price bracket for the third time in just over two years, Aneisha Beveridge, head of research at Hamptons, commented. However, the good news for tenants is that rental growth has slowed from its summer double-digit peak and looks likely to settle around the 5 to 6% mark by the end of the year.
She said: This will be welcome news for many households who are seeing other costs spiral as inflation peaks. And it also means that, unlike at the beginning of the year, rents are more closely tracking income growth, which should soften the cost-of-living squeeze for tenants.
