Read the latest quarterly Rental Trends Tracker
Headlines from the Q3 report:
Average advertised rents surpass £1,400 for the first time
- Average advertised rents outside London rose by 1.5% this quarter to a new record of £1,418pcm, surpassing £1,400 for the first time.
- Annual rental growth outside London is now 2.4%, remaining significantly below the roughly 10% annual growth seen between 2021 and 2023.
- London also reached a new record average advertised rent of £2,825pcm, with annual growth accelerating to 3.2%, above the 2.4% seen outside London.
- At a national level, the number of available rental homes is 2% lower than a year ago, while renter demand is also down by around 2%, helping to keep the market relatively balanced.
What’s happening in the rental market?
- London is seeing a greater supply squeeze, with available rental homes down 9% year-on-year, new rental listings down 7%, and renter demand up 6%.
- Rents are mostly rising faster in lower-priced parts of Great Britain, although London recorded the third-highest annual rental growth at 3.2%.
- The proportion of homes to rent that were previously for sale has fallen from 17% to 15%, an indicator of reduced landlord investment this year.
Buy-to-let mortgage rates remain elevated
- The average two-year fixed buy-to-let mortgage rate at 75% LTV, with no fee, is now 5.34%, compared with 4.16% before the war in Iran started.
- Elevated mortgage rates continue to make property investment less attractive for prospective landlords, particularly in areas where capital growth might also be limited.
For more details, including regional trends in average advertised rents, yields, supply and demand, read the full report.
The rental market at-a-glance:
“Average advertised rents have reached another new record and have now surpassed £1,400 per month outside London for the first time. However, beneath the headline figure, rental growth has continued to settle compared with the exceptionally fast pace we saw a few years ago. Supply remains constrained, which is continuing to put upward pressure on rents, but demand is also more measured. That has helped to create a more balanced market overall, even though affordability remains a challenge for many renters.”
Colleen Babcock, Rightmove’s property expert
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