Private rents rose by 4.2 per cent in the year to December according to official government figures released this week – somewhat below the higher figures claimed by other organisations.

The 4.2 per cent is a slight acceleration from the 4.0 per cent average annual rise in November.

Annual private rental prices increased by 4.1 per cent in England, 3.5 per cent in Wales and 4.4 per cent in Scotland in the 12 months to December 2022.

Within England, the East Midlands saw the highest annual percentage change in private rental prices in the 12 months to December (5.0 per cent) while the North East and the South East saw the lowest (3.8 per cent).

London’s annual percentage change in private rental prices was 4.0 per cent in the 12 months to December 2022, which means that London is no longer the English region with the lowest annual percentage change – a position it held for some period of time throughout the pandemic.

There have been dramatic figures quoted by some campaign organisations regarding rent rises in the UK but the government figures reveal that rents have actually risen by 16.7 pet cent on average over the past eight years.