Rental growth dropped to the slowest rate for four years in November, says the lettings agency Hamptons.
Average rents on newly let properties in Britain rose by just 2.6% over the last 12 months, the lowest annual increase since the 2.4% recorded in November 2020.
However, between November 2020 and November 2024, rents rose by a total of 31.6%, outpacing average earnings.
The fastest growth continues to be in Scotland and Northern England, where rents are up 7.2% and 5.7%, respectively, over the last 12 months.
London rents nudged up just 0.4% over the last 12 months, the slowest growth in the country. The rest of Southern England saw rents rise by between 1.8% and 2.9% over the last year (table 2).
The agency claims the number of homes available to rent across Britain this year has consistently remained above last year’s levels, putting downward pressure on rental growth.
There are currently 13% more homes to rent across Britain than in November 2023, when stock levels were near rock bottom. It says there were 10% fewer rental homes on the market last month than in November 2019 when rental stock levels were last materially higher.
In 2023 stock levels ran at an average of 41% below equivalent 2019 levels.
Aneisha Beveridge, Head of Research at Hamptons, says: “After an unprecedented four-year boom, rental growth for newly let properties has slowed to a crawl. The current level of growth is similar to pre-covid times when rents typically rose between 2% and 3% a year.
“However, the forces that pushed up rents haven’t entirely gone away. Tenants renewing contracts continue to see increases well above these levels, but the pace of these increases will slow as their rents climb closer to market rates.”
This article is taken from Landlord Today