Scottish rents in Scotland have been rising at less than average incomes, claims the boss of the country’s largest lettings agency.

David Alexander, the chief executive officer of DJ Alexander Scotland, says new Zoopla data shows average rents in Scotland rose by 3.1% in the year to January 2025 at a time when average incomes were increasing by 4.8%.

The Zoopla report states that: “rental demand has cooled across all regions and countries of the UK over the last year. This is largely as a result of lower levels of immigration for work and study, as well as greater first-time buyer demand, most of whom originate from the rental market.”

There has also been an increase in supply with Scotland increasing by 29% over the last year which is the highest figure of any part of the UK. Within the wider increases in Scotland there are regional variations with Edinburgh rents rising by 3.0%; Aberdeen higher by 1.8%; and Glasgow increasing by 1.3%.

Alexander comments: “The argument provided for rent controls is that rents are increasing beyond affordability but clearly these figures demonstrate the opposite. With average rents across Scotland increasing by 3.1% at a time when incomes have risen by 4.8% it is clear that affordability is improving.

“The increase in the volume of properties available is a further indication that allowing the market to stabilise and rebalance is the way to produce rents that are affordable and accessible. Historically the market has produced relatively stable annual rent increases in the private rented sector (PRS) and these figures indicate that things are returning to their long-term trend.

“While this data shows that rental inflation has stabilised it is clear that demand still outstrips supply with twelve people applying for every property to rent. While this is 42% lower than the period between 2022 and 2024 it is still higher than before the pandemic. Therefore, while the data does indicate that the situation is improving for tenants there is some way to go to restore the market to its pre-2022 position.

“Therefore, I would urge the Scottish Housing Minister to remove the current plans contained within the Scotland Housing Bill to introduce rent controls as it is clear they have been the cause for rapidly rising rents in the last two years. It is only by allowing market forces to return that we will have a rental market with a more stable and sustainable growth.”