Countrywide’s monthly rental index – based on achieved rather than advertised rents on newly let properties – says the average rent across Great Britain rose 1.8 per cent over the past year.

It now stands at £998 pcm. 

The index, released through Countrywide’s upmarket Hamptons International branch, says the south of England has been the big drive. 

The South West recording the strongest year-on-year rental growth (up 4.5 per cent), followed by the South East (3.8 per cent) and the East (2.1 per cent).  

Every region recorded rent increases apart from Wales, where rents fell 1.4 per cent year-on-year in September.