Rents rise to ‘record levels’

Guardian News and Media/London

The housing charity Shelter called for the government to “fix” the market, after LSL, which runs the UK’s largest lettings agent network, said rents had risen by 1.8% over the month and were £13 a month higher than their previous peak, reached in October 2012.

LSL said rents have never been higher in Wales, the West Midlands, the East Midlands, the north-west, Yorkshire and the Humber, London and the south-east, but there have been dips in some regions.

While in the south-east of England average rents rose by 3.3% month-on-month to £787, in the east of England they dropped by 0.8% to £739.

The cheapest region to rent in is the north-east, where tenants paid an average of £533 a month in September, while the most expensive is London, with an average of £1,141.

Demand for rented properties has been a key driver in rising costs, and LSL said lettings activity was up by 9.2% in the 12 months to September.

The figures cover a period before the launch of the government’s Help to Buy mortgage scheme, which is designed to aid people with small deposits to get on the housing ladder.

Some commentators have suggested that this will lead to a fall in rents, as tenants are finally able to move out of the rented sector and into their own homes.

However, David Newnes, director of LSL Property Services, said he expected demand for rented homes to remain strong.

“Higher rents in almost every region show that, despite government schemes, buying a first home is still a difficult aspiration. This is not only down to low salary growth, but also a general shortage of supply which is the underlying reason why homes are getting more expensive,” he said.