People who rent outside of London told they need to cough up £1,316

Private rents in Great Britain have hit a record high. Rightmove has moved to call on the new government to prioritise the sector as rents outside London climb 7 per cent in a year - a staggering rise as the Cost of Living crisis continues.

Advertised rent outside London reached a record £1,316 a calendar month in May, the property website Rightmove said. The figure for London was £2,652 a month – almost three times the £894 asked for in north-east England.

Rightmove called on the next government “to accelerate housebuilding and incentivise landlords to invest in more homes for tenants” to help tackle the supply and demand imbalances and stabilise rental growth. It said its analysis showed about 120,000 more rental properties were needed to return rent growth to “more normal levels” of about 2% a year, based on current demand.

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In many areas there were “nowhere near enough homes to satisfy the number of tenants looking to move”, Rightmove said in its release. Tim Bannister, Rightmove’s property expert, said: “It’s easy to forget there was a time before the pandemic where rental price growth was more stable. [Annual] price growth at seven per cent suggests we are still out of balance.”

He added: “The next government should be prioritising an improvement to the planning process, an acceleration of housebuilding, and encouraging more supply into the rental market.” It comes as separate figures from Propertymark, a professional body for estate and letting agents, showed there were about nine new applicants registered for each available UK property in May.

Here are average advertised rents and the annual increase, according to Rightmove

– North East, £894, 11%

– West Midlands, £1,180, 10%

– Scotland, £1,067, 9%

– East of England, £1,597, 8%

– North West, £1,146, 8%

– Yorkshire and the Humber, £1,022, 8%

– South West, £1,425, 7%

– East Midlands, £1,150, 7%

– South East, £1,836, 6%

– London, £2,652, 4%

– Wales, £1,065, 4%