Rent continues to rise below the rate of inflation, according to a survey published by LSL Property Services. Their figures show that the annual rent in the UK rose by only £8 in the last twelve months and tenants now pay £745 per months to rent a home.
London Still Most Expensive Place to Rent
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London is the exception of course and rents in the capital are around twice that of rents in the cheapest part of the UK, which at the moment is the North East of England. On average, tenants in London can expect to pay £1,124 whereas tenants living in the North East only have to pay £513 per month. Interestingly, though, rent increases in London have only increased 1%, which is lower than the rest of the UK. This is significantly lower than last year when average rentals were rising at a rate of 8%.
“London is a dramatic example of how a prospering housing market can feed through to tenants,” said David Brown, commercial director of LSL Property Services.
“In absolute terms, the capital is naturally more expensive to live in than elsewhere, but the pace of change is now going in the right direction.”
Rents in Line with Wage Increases
The figures are in line with annual wage increases. Figures from the Office of National Statistics show that average wages only increased by 0.7% in the first quarter of this year.
There are also signs that the housing market is slowing down once again as demand falls. This is probably due to warnings of an interest rate rise on the cards in the next two years.