The cost of a tenancy outside of London rose by 3.5% compared to last year according to findings from the HomeLet Rental Index, which puts the average UK rent at £749 a month.

It points out that while this level of growth for new tenancies continues to outstrip the rate of inflation, this is much lower than the peaks seen just a few months ago when rents were up by over 8%.

In it for the long term

The research also revealed that a large proportion of tenants are renting their homes for the long term. Almost two-thirds (64%) said they planned to continue renting for a year or longer, and 90% said they were happy with their landlord.

While 87% of tenants indicated rental cost is an important factor when they choose a home, both attractiveness of the surrounding area (75%) and a low crime rate (70%) also ranked highly.

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However a large proportion of tenants (71%) would ideally prefer to buy a home, but 66% said they saw saving for a deposit as the biggest barrier preventing them from doing so.

Regional differences

October’s HomeLet Rental Index also highlights the gap between the pace of annual rent rises in the capital (7.5%) and the rest of the UK (3.5%), which has widened in recent months. On average London tenants paid £1,560 a month, which is over £800 more per month that the rest of the UK.

While the pace of rent rises has slowed over the autumn, rent inflation has increased in nine out of 12 regions of the country – the exceptions are the North West, where rents were 4.9% down on last year, Northern Ireland (2.1% down) and East Anglia (1.2% down).