Rent prices up 3%
16/01/2015
A survey from LSL Property Services has shown that the cost of renting a home in the UK has risen by 3% throughout 2014.
The average residential rent cost was £745 at the end of 2013, and rose to £767 by the end of 2014 according to the buy to let index from LSL Property Services who own Your Move and Reeds Rains. This strong price growth comes despite some month on month falls, with average rents 0.1% lower than they were in November 2014.
Rents are higher than a year ago in eight out of ten regions of the UK. The east of England had the highest increase of 7.6%, and London saw a rise of 4.1%. In contrast, two regions are lower than a year ago, where average rents in the North East fell by 2.1% over the course of 2014, and 1% in the South West.
The current proportion of rent in arrears stands at 8.9% as of December 2014, up from 7.5% in November. This shows an improvement from last year, when 9.7% of all rent was in arrears. Over 2014 as a whole, tenant arrears average 7.5% of all rent, down from an average of 8.1% over the previous twelve months.
Adrian Gill, director of estate agents Reeds Rains and Your Move said:
‘December is always a testing time, and it’s abundantly clear that many households aren’t out of the financial woods yet. But looking at the big picture improvements, 2014 has been a success. There is a clear trend towards renters being more in control of their finances. December’s setback is just that. Even taken alone in 2014, December represents an improvement from the worse spike in arrears witnessed in December 2013’
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