The average rent on a newly let home outside of London rose to over £1000 per month for the first time in April – nearly 10% higher than the same time last year and a major upset for those looking to flee the capital for a cheaper lifestyle, research from estate agent Hamptons reveals today.

PANDEMIC

Over the last year the average rent outside the capital has risen 7.8%, which puts it 26% higher than on the eve of the Covid pandemic in February 2020.

This annual increase will cost the average tenant an extra £868 a year if they were to move to a new home outside of London. The average rent now exceeds £1k pcm in three of the 10 regions outside of London.

Across Great Britain as a whole, rents rose 11.1% year-on-year in April to reach a new high of £1,249 pcm and marked the second strongest month for rental growth across the country on record, only to be outpaced by the annual increase of 11.5% recorded in May 2022.

COVID

Aneisha Beveridge, Head of Research at Hamptons, says: “It was back in July 2020 that the average rent across the whole of Great Britain (including London) last passed the £1k pcm mark.

“But just 34 months later, soaring rents since Covid have meant that the average rent in the regions outside of London has passed that same milestone.

“With rents on the open market rising quickly, tenants will face the choice of staying put or moving to a smaller home in a more affordable area.

“Affordability constraints will likely hit the brakes on rental growth at some point this year, however, it’s unlikely to slow considerably due to the number of landlords looking to pass on their rising costs.”