UK private rents grew by 4.4% in 12 months to January: ONS – Mortgage Strategy
Private rents in the UK increased by 4.4% in the 12 months to January, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reveals.
The latest figure is a 0.2% rise from December and represents the largest annual percentage change since this UK series started in January 2016.
The annual percentage change in rents has increased across all regions in 2022, including in London.
Annual private rental prices increased by 4.3% in England, 3.9% in Wales, and 4.5% in Scotland in the 12 months to January.
Within England, the East Midlands saw the highest annual percentage change of 5.0% in private rental prices in the 12 months to January while West Midlands saw the lowest annual percentage change of 3.9%.
The data shows that London’s annual percentage change in private rental prices was 4.3% in the 12 months to January.
This figure is up from 4.0% in December and is the strongest annual percentage change in London since August 2015.
ID-Pal enterprise sales manager and in-house Right to Rent expert Mark O’Hara says: “Many people have been pushed into renting by rising interest rates that have made affordability more difficult when assessing wages versus repayments.”
“These rate increases have also caused some landlords to exit the market or pass on their tax hikes to renters.”
“Increased rental prices, along with high demand for rental properties coupled with falling supply has created unpredictability in the market; causing the average rental prices to soar, as demonstrated by today’s data.”
