National Average Rents now exceed £1000 per calendar month for the first time ever!

National Average Rents now exceed £1000 per calendar month for the first time ever!

The average rent in the UK is now at a record high of £1,007, up 5.9% on the same time last year, and up a massive 7% on this time two years ago – according to the Homelet Rental Index (June 2021).
On a more regional level, Homelet (national tenant referencing agency) report the average rent in the West Midlands region was £754 PCM in June 2021, an overall increase of 5.6% compared with June 2020.
Goodlord (national tenant referencing agency) also report their average rents in the West Midlands region of £772 PCM in June this year – an increase of 3.3% over the last 12 months -

Figures obtained from the Office of National Statistics (ONS), however, were not so ambitious; the Index of Private Housing Rental Prices for May 2021 indicates an average rental price increase of 2.4% (West Midlands).
Data is obtained from different sources of course, but all clearly indicate that rents are on the rise!

During the Pandemic, the government rightly introduced measures to protect tenants but didn’t go far enough to balance the protection for landlords.
Over the last 5 years, landlords have been penalised by increased taxes and endless changes in legislation. There is no doubt that standards of rented accommodation need to be regulated for the safety and protection of tenants, but increasing taxes for landlords at the same time is encouraging more landlords to exit the market, thereby reducing the supply of accommodation available in a marketplace where demand is increasing, and inevitably rents will rise.
The private rented sector works best when there’s a mutual balance between tenants and landlords. The government’s strategy to suspend stamp duty (excluding the 3% surcharge for BTL properties) certainly had the desired effect to get the housing market moving again, but supply and demand dynamics will only continue to drive rental prices upwards for the rest of the year, and I’m sure we’ll see more records broken in 2021.

Dawn Clarke

[email protected]