The average rent for a UK property grew by a negligible 0.05 per cent in October, despite a tiny fall in London rents of 0.11 per cent according to an index from peer-to-peer investment platform Landbay.

Looking at rental performance over the past 12 months, the platform says hotspots include Luton (up 7.11 per cent), Edinburgh (up 5.63 per cent) and Northamptonshire (up 5.59 per cent),

Aberdeen (where rents have fallen 13.22 per cent in a year) and the wider county of Aberdeenshire (down 9.03 per cent) have both been hit by the dramatic fall in oil prices since mid-2014.

Inverclyde and Dundee City have also seen smaller rent falls. Overall however, Scotland has seen rents grow by 1.55 per cent over the past 12 months, the fastest growth of all the UK Home Nations.

Within London there have also been dramatic borough-by-borough differences. 

Westminster (where rents fell 1.86 per cent in the past year), Kensington and Chelsea (down 1.81 per cent), Richmond upon Thames (down 0.99 per cent) and Camden (falling 0.93 per cent) were amongst the bigger fallers. But Bexley (up 3.12 per cent), and Barking and Dagenham (3.02 per cent growth), have led the rent rises in the capital.