- There are many different sources of data on rental prices in different areas of the UK, all of which rely on estimates.
- ONS figures for London indicate that rents there have risen by 22.7% since the start of 2023 and 8.4% in the past year.
- Information from PropertyPal indicates that average rents in Belfast have risen by 27.4% since the start of 2023 and by 15.8% through 2024 alone.
- Not every comparison between every set of data leads to the same conclusion. Certain comparisons show growth in London ahead over some periods. On the other hand, at least one source indicates that rents in London have shrunk in recent times – whereas we found no data to suggest that is true for Belfast.
In a post on social media, the Alliance Party claimed:
“Rent [is] rising faster in Belfast than London.”
This claim is supported by evidence.
There are various sources of data that provide estimates for average rental prices in both Belfast and London.
By considering the various sources of data, it is possible to see there is significant evidence to support the idea that rents in Belfast have risen proportionately faster than those in London for both the past year and also the whole period since the start of 2023.
While not every single point of comparison shows Belfast prices going up faster than those in London, the majority do.
So, while noting that this analysis relies on comparing various different estimates rather than using a single source of precise official data, there is nonetheless evidence to support the claim.
Read on for more details.
FactCheckNI contacted the Alliance Party about its claim. A party officer replied, pointing us to this article from the Irish News, which reports that rents are rising faster in Belfast than they are in London.
This article examines trends across two timescales – the latest calendar year for which there is good quality data (as you will see, for various reasons there are a few ways to assess this – ultimately we consider several) and for the period from the start of 2023 until the present day.
That second timeframe allows us to consider rent rises over a longer period without getting too close to the period of the COVID-19 pandemic where any fluctuations in the housing market might be attributable to the specifics of the pandemic, rather than circumstances that are more relevant today.
All the rental prices considered below are costs per calendar month.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) provides some information on the price of rent in Belfast.
According to ONS, in February 2025 the average rent in Belfast was £1076, representing a rise of 8.6% from February 2024. It also represents a rise of 6.12% when compared with the annual averages for 2024.
However, rent data for Northern Ireland supplied by ONS are for ‘broad rental market areas’. Belfast overlaps with the rental areas of Belfast, South East Northern Ireland and Lough Neagh Upper.
This means these figures may not be the most reliable for assessing this claim as it is impossible to distinguish rises in Belfast specifically from those in the overlapping areas. ONS also warns that its local data on housing “are based on a smaller number of properties than our national estimates, meaning short-term trends are more variable”.
- Other NI data and biannual trends
Ulster University maintains a Northern Ireland Rental Index with biannual reports looking at the state of the private rental market.
Its latest publication, for the second half (H2) of 2024, states that average rent in Belfast was £1,011, an annual rise of 6.53% compared with the figure of £949 for H2 2023. Note that there no report for H2 2022 is available on the UU portal (the only such gap in reporting during the COVID period).
Looking at the H1 figures for the three most recent years, we see average Belfast rents of £853 in H1 2022, £923 in H1 2023 and £1,019 in H1 2024. This indicates a rise of 8.20% from H1 2022 to H1 2023, and a rise of 10.4% from H1 2023 to H1 2024.
UU states that its figures are sourced using data from the Housing Executive as well as thanks to a partnership with PropertyNews.Com, a website that allows people to search through options in the Northern Ireland private property market (both purchases and rentals). But this isn’t the only place to get such information.
Another online business that allows people to sift through Northern Ireland’s property market is PropertyPal.com.
PropertyPal produces its own quarterly reports on changes and trends within the market (and it’s interesting to note that, per the BBC in August last year, PropertyPal and PropertyNews are now under the same ownership but have continued as separate organisations).
Their most recent report (NI Housing Market Update: Q1 2025) demonstrates that the average price of rent for the first quarter of 2025 was £1127.
The following table illustrates the rise in rent for the period of January 2023 to December, 2024. (data taken from PropertyPal market reports). Please note that no data was provided for Q1, 2024.
Figure 1 – source: PropertyPal.com
As can be seen in the chart below, this represents fairly steady increases from quarter to quarter between the start of 2023 and the latest available data.
Figure 2 – source: PropertyPal.com (note that no figures for Q1 2024 were available so this figure has been excluded)
According to the PropertyPal data, average rent in Belfast has risen from £885 in Q1 2023 to £1127 in Q1 2025 – an increase of approximately 27.35% since the start of 2023.
There are various sources of data estimates for the price of rent in London, featuring a significant variation in their findings.
According to figures from ONS, London’s monthly rent average increased from £2088 in May 2024 to £2246 in May 2025 – representing an increase of 8.4% for the past year.
ONS figures also indicate that average London rent was £1830 in January 2023. This means rents there have risen by 22.7% since the start of 2023.
However, according to the HomeLet Rental Index, rents in London saw a 2.3% decrease in the year to May 2025 (the same dataset indicates that the average rent in London for May and April 2025 was £2088).
Various other figures are available from companies such as Zoopla and Rightmove. However, while ONS figures may not be of great use when considering rents in Belfast, given they also include swathes of NI that are outside Belfast, when considering London the ONS is referring to the Greater London area (meaning the city’s 32 boroughs together with the City of London itself) which is much more precise for the purposes of this fact check.
According to the best-available data (PropertyPal), rents in Belfast have risen by 27.4% since the start of 2023.
The most recent figures for the past year are slightly trickier, due to the absence of data for Q1 2024, but between Q2 2024 and Q1 2025 rents rose from £1,006 to £1,127 – an increase of 12.0% over just nine months, rather than a year (note that rents have risen every quarter since the start of 2023.
Another useful comparison is the year-on-year difference between Q4 2023 and Q4 2024, during which average rents in Belfast (according to PropertyPal) rose from £952 to £1,102 – an increase of 15.8% over the calendar year.
Meanwhile, ONS data for London indicates that rents have increased by 22.7% since the start of 2023. Over the latest 12 months for which there is available data – the year to May 2025 – rent in the city increased by 8.4%.
For a more direct annual comparison, consider the calendar year 2024. Rents in London increased from £1,994 to £2,221 over that period – an increase of 11.4% for that calendar year. This is lower than the 15.8% increase in Belfast indicated by the PropertyPal data (from £952 in Q4 2023 to £1102 in Q4 2024).
Note that not all comparisons across all datasets lead to the same conclusion. For instance, UU’s rental index suggested rents in Belfast increased by 6.4% between H2 2023 and H2 2024, which is lower than ONS figures for Belfast across the calendar year of 2024 (these timeframes are not precisely the same but are the best match for those two datasets). On the other hand, some of the non-ONS data sources suggest rents in London have recently fallen – whereas costs in Belfast have risen steadily for years.
Overall, when considering all the available data and the quality of that data, there is plenty of evidence to support the claim that rents in Belfast are increasing at a higher rate than those in London.