Bristol is the most expensive place to rent in Britain outside of London, according to new figures. Across the UK, average private rents increased by nine per cent in the 12 months to February 2024, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.
The average private rent in Britain was £1,238 in February, which was £102 higher than 12 months earlier. This is the biggest rise since UK records started in January 2015.
Across Britain, the average monthly private rent in February was highest in Kensington and Chelsea, London (£3,248) and lowest in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland (£472). Excluding London, the local area with the highest average private rent in February was the city of Bristol (£1,734).
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The average UK house price fell by an estimated 0.6 per cent in the year to January 2024, according to an index. This took the average price of a home in the UK to £282,000, which was £2,000 lower than 12 months earlier.
It followed a decrease of 2.2 per cent in the 12 months to December 2023, the ONS said. In the 12 months to January 2024, average house prices decreased in England to £299,000 (down by 1.5%), decreased in Wales to £213,000 (falling by 0.8%), and increased in Scotland to £190,000 (up by 4.8%).
Ben Beadle, of the National Residential Landlords Association, said the "chronic shortage of properties to meet demand" for rents was to blame for the rent increase. He told the BBC: "The chancellor needs to develop growth tax measures to ensure a healthy supply of quality homes to rent."
Mr Beadle referred to advice from economic research group the Institute for Fiscal Studies that the "more harshly landlords are taxed, the higher rents will be". Housing charity Shelter's chief executive Polly Neat said the private renting sector had "reached boiling point".
She added: "Decades of failure to build genuinely affordable social homes has made private renting the only option for many, and as a result, competition for overpriced and often shoddy rentals is fierce.
"To help struggling families keep hold of their homes, the government must keep its promise to renters and pass a watertight Renters (Reform) Bill to ban no-fault evictions."
A spokesperson for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities told the BBC it was aware "the cost-of-living pressures tenants are facing" and "our landmark Renters (Reform) Bill offers a new, fairer deal for tenants and landlords".
"The most recent data shows the size of the private rented sector has doubled since 2004, peaking in 2016 and has remained roughly stable since," they added.
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