Average rents across the country have risen just three per cent in the past year and typical tenants are staying an unusually-long 28 months in their properties – indicating that the rental affordability ceiling might be close, according to HomeLet.

A tenant signing up to a new tenancy in October will have paid an average of £902 per month – that’s three per cent higher than a year ago.

But the rate of growth is slowing as in March this year the annual rise was 4.5 per cent.

The contraction in the pace of rental increase is most marked in those areas of the country where rents were rising most quickly until recently.

In Greater London rents on new tenancies rose by 2.5 per cent in the year to October having been rising by 7.0 per cent annually some 12 months ago.

In the south east rents rose 2.7 per cent in the year to October compared with 4.3 per cent this time last year.

“We know wage growth has lagged rental price inflation and it could be that we are approaching an affordability ceiling whereby landlords cannot attract tenants who can afford higher rents” according to HomeLet chief executive Martin Totty.