Average advertised rents in the UK rise slightly

The average advertised rent for properties in the UK rose by 0.45% in May, reaching an average of £970 per month, according to the latest monthly index from Move with Us.

A fall in average rents in some regions of the country, such as the North West and Wales, this has been offset by significant increases in the South East and North East with rises of 1.73% and 1.86% respectively.

Overall, the trend seen in the first half of 2013, of advertised rents not fluctuating by any great significance remained the same in May.

London rents continued the recovery recorded in April, increasing by 0.83% throughout May, although they remain 9.11% down on the peak experienced in May 2012, before the London Olympics.

Yorkshire and Humber with a rise of 8.39%, the East Midlands with a rise of 6.75% and the South East with a rise of 6.44% are showing the largest increases when compared with May 2012.

The annual growth for both Yorkshire and Humber and the North West regions are in contrast to the monthly fall of over 1% witnessed by both in May. The decreases in average advertised rents seen in Wales during April has changed somewhat to a more consistent fall of 0.48%, similar to the pattern experienced during the first half of the year.

Meanwhile, a separate set of figures show that increased stock levels have sparked renewed competition among landlords in London’s prime rental market. The supply of rental properties in prime central London has increased 12% since this time last year and landlords are becoming more flexible with their rents in order to secure tenants, according to the report from Chesterton Humberts.

It says that the increased levels of stock has been largely fuelled by the growing buy to let market, reduced corporation relocation packages, redundancies especially in the financial services sector and the greater availability of cheap mortgages which is encouraging those in rental accommodation to buy.

The buy to let market continues to attract investor interest with 13% of all mortgages in the UK now representing buy to let landlords. This strong growth is largely a result of disappointing stock market performance which has driven investors towards the long term growth and low volatility of residential property in London when compared to other asset classes.

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