The average agreed rent for new tenancies in the UK ranged from 665 British pounds to 2,100 British pounds, depending on the region. On average, renters outside of London paid 1,095 British pounds, whereas in London, this figure amounted to 2,025 British pounds. Rents have been on the rise for many years, but the period after the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated this trend. Since 2015, the average rent in the UK increased by about 25 percent, with about half of that gain achieved in the period after the pandemic. Why have UK rents increased so much? One of the main reasons driving up rental prices is the declining affordability of homeownership. Historically, house prices grew faster than rents, making renting more financially feasible than buying. In 2022, when the house price to rent ratio index peaked, house prices had outgrown rents by nearly 30 percent since 2015. As house prices peaked in 2022, home buying slowed, exacerbating demand for rental properties and leading to soaring rental prices. How expensive is too expensive? Although there is no official requirement about the proportion of income spent on rent for it to be considered affordable, a popular rule is that rent should not exceed more than 30 percent of income. In 2024, most renters in the UK exceeded that threshold, with the southern regions significantly more likely to spend upward of 30 percent of their income on rent. Rental affordability has sparked a move away from the capital to other regions in the UK, such as the South East (Brighton and Southampton), the West Midlands (Birmingham) and the North West (Liverpool, Manchester, Blackpool and Preston).

Renting an apartment in Cambridge cost on average more than 1,500 British pounds per month in December 2023, making it the most expensive cities for renters in the UK after London. In London, the average rent ranged between 1,400 British pounds and 3,700 British pounds depending on the location. On the other hand, Northern Ireland, Wales, and North East were the regions with the most affordable rents.

The average monthly home rental payment in the United Kingdom (UK) increased steadily since 2008, reaching 1, 258 British pounds in December 2023. In comparison, the average home buying costs amounted to 1,231 British Pounds that year, meaning that homeowners saved 27 British pounds monthly from the difference.

Between 2008 and 2024, the average weekly rent for private renters in England has shown a significant increase. In the 2009, the average rent was 153 British pounds, and by 2024, it had risen to 237 British pounds. Excluding London, the average rent started at 130 British pounds in 2009 and reached 191 British pounds in 2024, demonstrating a similar upward trend but at a lower rate compared to the overall average in England. Rental households in England Renting is common in England. Nearly one in five households occupied a dwelling that was privately rented in 2024. While the majority of households in the country live in an owner-occupied home, this percentage has declined since the early 2000s. Meanwhile, the share of households occupying a private rental has doubled over the past decade. This shows a growing rental sector and a shift in tenure trends in the country. Buying vs renting costs For a long time, the average monthly costs of buying a home were lower than renting. In 2021, housing costs started to increase steeply, closely followed by rental costs. This resulted in the gap nearly closing in 2023. This trend can also be observed through the house price to rent ratio - an index that follows the development of house prices relative to rents, with 2015 as a baseline year. Between 2015 and 2022, the ratio grew steadily, indicating that property prices rise faster than rents. However, with rental growth accelerating and catching up with property prices in 2022, the index declined notably.

Summary of average monthly rents in private rental market, recorded per 12 month rolling period.

Data updated quarterly by local authority areas for England.

The release presents the mean (average), median, lower quartile, and upper quartile gross monthly rent paid (ignoring any adjustment for services not eligible for housing benefit), for a number of bedroom/room categories for each Local Authority (LA) in England for the 12 month period stated. Full set of local authority tables available on the VOA website.
Full notes, methodolgy and glossary available from http://www.voa.gov.uk/corporate/statisticalReleases/120823_PRRM_ReleaseNotes.html

Rent Inflation in the United Kingdom decreased to 7.40 percent in February from 7.80 percent in January of 2025. This dataset includes a chart with historical data for the United Kingdom Rent Inflation.

Rental price statistics historical data time series (indices and annual percentage change). These are official statistics in development.

Price to Rent Ratio in the United Kingdom decreased to 114.58 in the third quarter of 2024 from 116.11 in the second quarter of 2024. This dataset includes a chart with historical data for the United Kingdom Price to Rent Ratio.

The average weekly rent of social renters in England increased by about 47 British pounds from 2009 to 2024. From a value of 71 British pounds per week in 2009, social housing rent rose to a value of 118 British pounds per week in 2024. In 2024, around four million houses were being rented out socially.

The cost of rent for office space in London is the highest in Europe. In the fourth quarter of 2023, the West End had average rents per square foot of 150 British pounds. The average annual rent in London for prime office space was substantially higher than in any other European market. Prime yields For commercial real estate investors, prime yields in London averaged four percent in 2023. As compared to the rest of the United Kingdom, yields for prime office space in London were notably lower. Commercial investments Office real estate, which comes under the broader term of commercial real estate, traditionally accounts for the lion's share of commercial real estate investments. In recent years, however, this share has been gradually declining. Despite this trend, the UK is one of the leading office real estate investment markets in Europe.

Average weekly household expenditure on goods and services in the UK. Data are shown by region, age, income (including equivalised) group (deciles and quintiles), economic status, socio-economic class, housing tenure, output area classification, urban and rural areas (Great Britain only), place of purchase and household composition.

Median price paid for residential property in England and Wales, by property type and administrative geographies. Annual data.

This dataset contains average rents of Camden housing stock by bedroom size. These values are from the annual Housing Revenue Account Budget and Rent Review document - links to this document are included in the dataset.

This data set shows the average weekly social rent (£), excluding service charge), of new Private Registered Providers (PRP) general needs lettings, 2012/13

Information about the tenancy, the tenants and the property is collected each time there is a new letting. Lets of general needs and supported social housing are collected, and, from 2012/13, both local authority and private registered providers also report their affordable rent lettings (PRPs began this reporting in 2011/12). All data are submitted through the on-line Continuous Recording system (CORE).

The rents reported to CORE are for properties let within the financial year and therefore will differ to figures on the rents for all social stock.

Private registered providers (PRPs)

PRPs refer in this document to Private Registered Providers of social housing in England that are registered with the social housing regulator (from 1st April 2012 this is the Homes and Communities Agency’s Regulation Committee). These were previously term Registered Social Landlords or housing associations. This term excludes local authority registered providers.

General needs housing

General needs housing covers the bulk of housing stock for rent and includes both self-contained and shared housing. It is stock that is not designated for specific client groups requiring support, or stock that does not have the special design features that are specific to housing for older people or supported housing. Where additional support is offered to all residents as a matter of course, this stock is not general needs (see definition of supported housing).

For further information please see the 'Social Housing Lettings: April 2012 to March 2013, England' statistical release available in PDF format.

The United Kingdom (UK) is the most expensive European country for annual costs of prime industrial rent at about 300 euros per square meter of industrial space in London Heathrow per year in 2023. Switzerland, Norway, Ireland, Finland, and Luxembourg were the other European countries where the average annual cost of industrial prime rents in the capital city exceeded one hundred euros per square meter.

This statistic displays the average monthly rent of property in greater London and Great Britain (excluding London) from 2007 to 2016 in British pounds. It can be seen that the average cost of rent in greater London is far higher than the average across Great Britain with an average price gap of almost five hundred British pounds in 2016.