Rent rises slow as more tenants stay put and supply improves

Price growth in the rental market is predicted to continue throughout 2023 but there are tentative signs that rent hikes are slowing, says a high profile agency chief.

Nicky Stevenson, managing director of Fine & Country UK, says that while the average monthly rents are still rising, indications suggest that the supply constraints which have underpinned record rental rises are easing. 

“Rightmove report the number of available homes to rent in the final quarter of 2022 was up 13 per cent with the number of new properties to let up five per cent year-on-year. However, significant pressure remains” Stevenson comments.

She notes that affordability concerns are a key consideration across the market and a large portion of agents confirm that more than half of renters continue to choose to renew their lease as opposed to moving. 

The average prime market rent is now a hefty £3,718 and the 16.7 per cent annual price growth it’s seen has moderated slightly from its peak last summer.

Stevenson says that more than five million households in England and Wales, equivalent to one in every five, now live in the private rented sector according to the recently released findings from Census 2021. 

“The number of households living in the sector has risen 29 per cent since 2011, with 89 per cent renting from a private landlord or letting agency. In London there are now more than one million households in the sector, compared to 1.5m owner occupiers. 

“All regions in England and Wales have seen an increase in the number of households in the private rented sector since 2011, with the greatest increases observed in the East of England, East Midlands, and West Midlands.