don’t hurt rentals by pushing for ho …

A major supplier to the industry is warning the government not to undermine the private rental sector in its efforts to further promote home ownership.

The censorship comes from Matthew Carter, marketing manager for HomeLet and Let Alliance, in his comments on the latest rental figures.

“Housing follows the same basic laws of economics as other goods that consumers need. In the end, demand, combined with the drop in stocks of certain types of goods, pushes up rental values. The problem is, we’re at a point where some areas are experiencing exceptionally high demand.

“Landlords and the rental market have faced an ongoing series of changes and laws; the government must carefully consider the impact of any future policies on the 4.5 million households in the private rental sector.

“Government pressure on home ownership should not come at the expense of an industry which plays a vital role in UK housing.”

The latest HomeLet index behind the comments shows that the UK average rent has hit a new record high of £ 1,061, up 7.5% from the same period last year and 0, 8% in just one month.

London continues to march towards normality, with a further rise in prices.

An annual increase of 6.4% brought the average price to £ 1,752 pcm; the monthly jump of 2.3 percent is the largest in the country.

 Excluding London, the UK average rental price is £ 891 per m², up 7.6% year-on-year.

The South West of England has seen a significant monthly drop in rental prices, with the average rent now standing at £ 971, down 3.5% from last month.

Elsewhere, each region saw year-over-year price increases, with Wales (12.9%) and Scotland (10.8%) recording the largest annual increases.

Carter continues: “Rents in the UK are up 9.7% from pre-pandemic levels, but most of the increases have happened this year.

“At first we saw rents outside of London rise while prices in the capital fell, but now we are seeing rents in London rising much faster, fueling the record rental levels we are seeing across the country.

“Typically, rental prices increase with inflation and wage growth; it is something that we have continued to see. Despite record rents, tenants who move spend a similar percentage of their income on their monthly rent.

“In September, the average household spent 29.6% of its gross income on rent, up from 30.9% in September 2019, before the pandemic.”