How much is rent in UK?

Around 4.4 million households use the private rented sector in England alongside 340,000 in Scotland and just over 200,000 in Wales.

Renters are facing record prices with rents growing at the fastest annual rate for more than a decade.

Private rental prices paid by UK tenants rose 4.8% in the year leading up to February 2023, according to the Office of national statistics.

The highest rises were seen in Scotland  – with rises of 5.2% recorded compared to 4.7% in England and 4.8% in Wales.

Asking rents jumped almost 10% in 2022 outside of London according to Rightmove.

Monthly payments have continued to rise in 2023. The national average asking rent outside London hit a new record of £1,190 per month and has now risen for 13 consecutive quarters, the property site said in its most recent quarterly update.

Rightmove also reported that average asking rents in London have surpassed £2,500 per month for the first time.

Zoopla found there was a 10.4% rise in rents for newly let properties in the year up to June 2023 – the 15th consecutive month in which rental inflation was in double digits – albeit down slightly from the 12.3% peak seen in mid-2022.

That means renters have, on average, faced £2,820 a year increase in rental costs over the last five years.

Why is UK rent so high?

The short answer to why rent is so high is because there is a shortage of affordable housing.

There is a housing crisis in the UK because not enough homes have been built by successive governments in the last few decades at a time where social housing stock has been sold off to the private sector through right to buy or demolished and not replaced.

An estimate from the National Housing Federation and Crisis found around 340,000 new homes should be supplied in England each year with 145,000 them to be affordable.