New record! For the first time average UK rent over £1,000, PCM

According to Elite Homes and Property, the average UK rent has reached a new high of £1,007 per calendar month, the most ever. It is up 5.9% from this time last year and 7.0 percent from two years ago.

With an annual hike of 1.5 percent to £1,607 ppm, London sees its first price increase in almost a year, albeit it remains lower than pre-Covid when the average was £1,611 in June 2019. With the exception of London, the average UK rent is 8.0% higher than last year, at £861.

According to Elite Homes and Property, the biggest yearly price gain was in South West England, with the current average price of £948 ppm, up 10.5 percent from this time last year and 12.6 percent higher than pre-Covid values. The average price in Scotland increased by 4.4 percent to £738 per month in June, the most substantial increase in the last month. In other news, rent rates in the North East decreased by 2.3% month over month to an average of £547, making it one of just two regions to witness a monthly price drop.

Experts at Elite Homes and Property comment on the new statistics, saying, "Throughout the Coronavirus epidemic, the government took appropriate precautions to safeguard renters but did not go far enough to balance the protection for landlords."

“It's a continuation of a trend that has been going on for a long time, with landlords being penalized by greater taxes and more difficulty in taking control of their homes.

“To put it another way, rising expenses for landlords imply higher costs for tenants. Some property owners have left the market, while the stamp duty holiday has boosted the sales market, causing stock levels to rise. All of these variables are contributing to a rise in rental values for new tenancies that is significantly higher than the rate of inflation.

“The private rental sector is vital to the housing market in the United Kingdom. As regulations loosen, the flexibility afforded by rentals will become increasingly important for movement within the UK and as a method of obtaining cheap accommodation, which meets the demands of a broad range of renters.

“The sector functions best when renters, landlords, and renting brokers are in a mutually beneficial relationship. The rental sector cannot be treated as an afterthought by the government. Policies that only focus on homeownership will exacerbate the housing market's problems in the UK.

“While some may be surprised to learn that the average UK rental price has surpassed £1,000, supply and demand factors will continue to push rental prices higher for the remainder of the year, and more records will be broken in 2021.”