The latest Landbay Rental Index shows that London rents rose by 0.10 per cent for the year ending 29 June – the first annual rise since December 2016.
For the first half of the year, cumulative rents moved upwards by 0.13 per cent.
Meanwhile, UK-wide growth rose by 0.4 per cent cumulatively for the first half of the year.
Breaking things down by region, the data reveals that the biggest gains were in the East Midlands and the East of England, which saw respective growth of 0.70 per cent and 0.95 per cent for the first half of the year. This increase was offset by the North East, however, where rents stood at -0.08 per cent, making it the worst performing region in the UK during the same period.
Landbay Rental Index chief executive John Goodall says: “While there remains a huge degree of regional variation, the overall trend has been a slowing of rents across the UK in the first half of this year. However, much of this has been London weighing down heavily on otherwise resilient growth across the UK. Now that London rents have bounced back to growth this could all be about to change.
“Wherever they’re based, landlords have had to face a myriad of challenges over the past two years, with regulatory and tax changes reshaping the sector. Despite this, there has been little sign of them passing on additional costs to tenants. However, with a rate rise on the horizon, meaning a rise in the cost of borrowing for landlords, we may well start to see landlords increasing rents in the coming months to stay afloat,” he adds.
