Keep knowledgeable with free updates
Merely signal as much as the UK home costs myFT Digest — delivered on to your inbox.
London rents rose on the quickest tempo on document in November, in response to official information that highlights the intensifying ache for tenants after two years of rising prices.
Rents in London elevated by 11.6 per cent within the 12 months to November 2024, the quickest annual tempo since information started in 2006, the Workplace for Nationwide Statistics mentioned on Wednesday.
The typical month-to-month lease in London exceeded £2,200 for the primary time, pushing the common for the UK above £1,300.
Pushed by London, UK rental annual development additionally accelerated to 9.1 per cent in November, up from 8.7 per cent within the earlier month and simply shy of the 9.2 per cent document improve registered in March 2024.
Andrew Montlake, managing director at mortgage dealer Coreco, mentioned: “Renting is nothing in need of brutal. It’s a must to really feel for the UK’s tenants as rents are rising at an astronomical and unsustainable charge.”
The significantly quick tempo of rental development in London implies that “one thing has to provide”, he added.
Rents have been rising sharply for the previous two years as landlords handed on rising prices, amid a scarcity of properties to lease and robust demand from tenants who couldn’t afford increased mortgage funds.
Nonetheless, a survey of property brokers revealed final week confirmed that expectations for lease development over the following three months eased in November as demand declined.
ONS rents information collects each current and new tenancies, which implies it may take longer for turning factors to be mirrored.
The ONS additionally reported on Wednesday that UK home costs rose by 3.4 per cent to a median of £292,000 within the 12 months to October, up from 2.8 per cent within the earlier month, and persevering with the growth seen for the reason that spring.
Home costs contracted throughout 2023 and at first of 2024, reflecting the affect of the Financial institution of England’s rates of interest rises on mortgage prices.
Mortgage charges have come down from their peak in the summertime of 2023, however have risen once more in current months as the federal government’s October Funds created upward stress on an already accelerating inflation charge.
Earlier on Wednesday, the ONS reported inflation rose to 2.6 per cent in November from 2.3 per cent within the earlier month, marking the very best charge since March. Along with sturdy wage development, it consolidated market expectations that the BoE won’t minimize rates of interest when it publicizes its resolution on Thursday.
Elliott Jordan-Doak, senior UK economist at consultancy Pantheon Macroeconomics, mentioned: “The falls in rates of interest which have boosted home worth inflation will doubtless pause now that markets count on the MPC to ease coverage solely regularly within the wake of the inflationary Funds and particularly after yesterday’s acceleration in wage development.
“That received’t derail home costs, however may take a number of the steam out of the restoration.”
