Rents in England have grown to their highest level on record, new data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has found.
According to the ONS’s latest private rental market summary for England, the median monthly rent for England rose to £700 between April 2019 and March 2020 – the highest rate ever recorded (figure 1).
Figure 1: Median monthly private rental prices increased with number of bedrooms
Private rental prices increased with property size
The data – which was based on a sample of 502,780 private rental data in the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) lettings information database collected by Rent Officers from landlords and letting agents – also shows that private rental prices actually increased with property size, with the highest median monthly rent of £1,300 per calendar month (pcm) being secured for properties with four or more bedrooms. By contrast, single rooms recorded the lowest monthly rent of £400pcm.
The ONS points out that the reason the spread of rents was greatest for the “four or more bedrooms” category is because of the inclusion of very large properties, which drove the sharp increase in both the median rent and spread of rents (interquartile range) when compared to other categories.
There also appears to be a large difference in median monthly rents between studios (£550pcm) and single rooms (£400pcm). However, the ONS cautions these results could have been driven by high volumes of data in the sample of studios located in London and the South East making up just under half of the sample size.
Private rents higher in London than any other region
As you’d most probably expect, the English region generating the highest rents was London, with a median monthly rent of £1,425 – more than double the median monthly rent for England. Rents were generally higher in Inner London than Outer London with the median monthly rent for Inner London the highest of all regions at £1,700.
Figure 2: Median monthly private rental price was greatest in London
Median and interquartile range of monthly rents for all bedroom categories, by region, 1 April 2019 to 31 March 2020
The South-East recorded the next highest median rent of £900pcm, followed by the East £795pcm, the South West £725pcm and the West Midlands with a median rent of £645pcm.
The North East recorded the lowest median monthly rent of £495pcm across all of England’s regions.
Median rents by local authority
The ONS’s statistics show a varied distribution in the prices that tenants paid for private housing across England’s local authorities.
For example, the difference in monthly rental price between the most and least expensive local authorities was almost £2,100 with Westminster, in Inner London, securing a median rent of £2,492 while Kingston upon Hull (Yorkshire and The Humber) only managed to generate £420pcm.
The lowest median monthly rent for Inner London was Lewisham at £1,300pcm. For Outer London, the highest median monthly rent of £1,550 was found in Richmond upon Thames while the lowest median monthly rent of £1,100 was shared by Bexley, Croydon and Sutton.
Figure 3: The difference in monthly rental price between the most and least expensive local authorities was nearly £2,100
Median monthly private rental price in England, by local authorities and bedroom category, 1 April 2019 to 31 March 2020
Median and interquartile range of monthly rents for all bedroom categories, by region, 1 April 2019 to 31 March 2020
The strength and resilience of the private rental market, despite so many market challenges, is obviously a good thing for landlords, however, these record-breaking rents have done nothing to dampen down industry concerns that tenants may be struggling to pay their rents, especially since the COVID-19 lockdown.
In response to these concerns, the government decided to extend the eviction ban by a further two months to the end of August.
This news came as a real blow for landlords who have already taken a hit to support their tenants during the Coronavirus outbreak.
The National Residential Landlords Association expressed disappointment at the decision. Ben Beadle, Chief Executive of the National Residential Landlords Association, said: “This decision means that some landlords will now be facing five months without receiving any rent as they can take no action against tenants who were not paying before the lockdown started. It also means more misery for tenants and neighbours suffering at the hands of anti-social tenants and will also cause exceptional hardship for a number of landlords, including many who depend on their rental income to live, for which there is no assistance.
“It is important that the Government sets out its plans for the market at the end of this one-time extension. A failure to do so will cause serious damage to the private rented sector as a whole. It will ultimately be tenants who suffer as they will find it increasingly difficult to find affordable housing if landlords do not have the confidence that they will get their properties back swiftly in legitimate circumstances.”
