Tenants are now paying £400 more per month than they were five years ago, Rightmove saysHere is what it now costs to rent across Greater Manchester(Image: Getty Images)

The cost of renting in the UK has reached a new record high as tenants are now paying £400 more per month than they were five years ago.

New data from Rightmove reveals that the average rent cost for new properties coming onto the market outside of London has risen by 1.2 per cent this quarter to a new record of £1,365 per calendar month (pcm).

Despite another new record, the average asking rent for a home outside of London is now 3.9 per cent higher than this time last year, the lowest this annual growth figure has been since 2020.

Now, five years on from the pandemic starting, the average monthly rent that a new tenant will pay is £417 more than in 2020. This is an rise of 44 percent, outpacing the increase in average earnings over the same period, which have risen by 36 per cent.

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However, much of this growth in rents occurred during the pandemic years of 2021 and 2022. Since 2023, yearly rent rises have been gradually slowing.

The slowing in the pace of rent growth has been largely due to the balance between supply and demand improving.

Rightmove says we are ‘currently seeing the best balance between supply and demand in the rental market since 2020,’ as the market continues to cool following the pandemic.

The number of available properties to rent is now 15 percent higher than at this time last year, with the North East (+33%) leading the way. However, it is still 29 per cent below 2019’s level.

Tenant demand has also eased by 10 percent compared to last year. The combination of this means that the average number of enquiries a typical rental property receives is now 11. This is down from 16 last year, but up from seven at this time in 2019.

Monthly rents have gone up by more than £400 since 2020

In further positive signs for supply in the market, the latest snapshot of buy-to-let lending from UK Finance shows that there has been an increase in rental property investment compared to last year.

The total number of loans for buy-to-let properties is up by 17 percent so far this year versus the same period last year. This includes both new home purchases and remortgages, and encouragingly, the number of new rental home purchases is up by 28 percent.

More investment into the buy-to-let sector from landlords is good for tenants, as it brings much needed rental homes into the sector and therefore a better balance of supply and demand which helps to keep rental price increases at more moderate levels.

A knock-on effect of a less frenzied market is that homes are taking longer to find the right tenant, and the advertised rent is more likely to be reduced.

It’s taking an average of 25 days for a home to be marked let agreed on Rightmove, up from 21 days last year and 18 days during the pandemic frenzy at this time in 2022.

Rightmove’s property expert Colleen Babcock says: “Despite another new record in average asking rents for tenants, the big picture is that yearly rent increases continue to slow, which is good news for tenants.

“Supply and demand is slowly rebalancing towards more normal levels, though we still have a way to go before we reach pre-2020 levels of available homes for tenants.

“The good news is that the latest industry snapshot suggests more investors are taking out buy-to-let loans compared with last year, which should help to bring even more homes to the rental market.”

This is where renting costs the most and least across the region(Image: Getty Images)

Here are the latest average rent prices in every Greater Manchester borough, from the most to least expensive per calendar month (pcm):

Trafford

£1,805 pcm

Salford

£1,400 pcm

Manchester

£1,375 pcm

Stockport

£1,287 pcm

Bury

£1,141 pcm

Bolton

£1,103 pcm

Tameside

£1,093 pcm

Oldham

£1,093 pcm

Rochdale

£1,068 pcm

Wigan

£913 pcm

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