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Countrywide claims there are now five tenants chasing each rental property, up from 4.2 tenants in August.

The group's latest lettings survey shows that 15 per cent of properties let for more than advertised in August across the UK as a whole, rising to 19 per cent in London. Nationally in August, landlords achieved an average of 99.6 per cent of the asking rent.

Despite the increase in demand over the past three months, these figures remain well below 2012 levels.

Countrywide says the upturn in the sales market, alongside the introduction of both parts of the Help to Buy scheme, transferred some of the demand out of the rental market.

The average rent in the UK passed the £900 per month barrier for the first time last month, and over the past year average rents have increased 5.1 per cent.

As has been the case throughout 2014, it has been London and those areas in zones 2-6 in particular, which have led this growth. While the number of properties coming onto the market has remained broadly stable, London rental growth is a product of strong growth in tenant numbers - up 12 per cent over the past 12 months.

Outside of London, particularly outside the south east, the level of demand has remained much closer to the number of properties available.

In a sign that agents and landlords are responding to demand, tenants are signing up to increasingly longer tenancies with record numbers choosing to remain in their property by renewing their contract. Every region of the UK, with the exception of central London, saw the length of the average tenancy rise to a current average of just over 16 months.

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