Average monthly rents outside of London rose to a new high of £1,190 in the first quarter of this year, with tenants in the city paying more than £2,500 for the first time, according to data from real estate website Rightmov.
National average asking rents outside London have risen for 13 consecutive quarters since the end of 2019, although the pace of growth has slowed over the last nine months, it said.
In London, the average asking rent for the first three months of this year reached a record-high of £2,501 a month. The increase was the smallest in two years, yet it was just 0.9% when compared to the previous three months.
Rightmove said the supply of rental properties coming on to the market remained “constrained” but was showing signs of improvement this year, with the overall number available 6% higher than the near-record lows recorded in the first quarter of 2022.
Tenant competition increased as a result of the supply and demand imbalance, with inquiries per property increasing by 173% in the first quarter compared to the same period in 2019. Nevertheless, it had decreased 2% from the same three months in 2017.
Tim Bannister, a director at Rightmove, said: “We have seen some early signs of improvement on squeezed supply levels this year, though with no significant influx of new properties becoming available to rent currently on the horizon, the mismatch is set to continue for some time.”