Slowdown in rental growth across the UK, but here are the top 10 areas bucking the trend
- Annual change in rental prices in the UK, excluding London, grow at the slowest pace in five years
- Rental growth has reached its lowest point in Scotland since the index began
- Despite this, strong growth can still be found in many areas in the UK. Monmouthshire in Wales tops the growth charts, followed by Nottingham and Conwy
- In contrast, the fall in oil prices since 2014 has meant Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire are the top two worst performing areas
2nd August 2018 – Rents in the UK, excluding London, rose by 1.18% in the 12 months to July 2018, the slowest annual rental increase in five years, according to the latest Landbay Rental Index, powered by MIAC.
Despite rental growth across the UK being in positive territory there is a synchronised slowdown taking place. In England, excluding London, the level of growth remained at 1.18% – its lowest point since April 2013. With the capital included the pace of growth slows to 0.81%. Despite this, the last two months have seen the capital return to positive territory, with the first annual rental increase in 18 months happening in June.
Rental growth in Scotland has hit a record low at 0.98% year-on-year. A similar picture can be seen in Wales, where rental growth reached its lowest level since June 2015. However, with rental growth at 1.60% this remains higher than the Welsh average growth rate of 1.49%.
In face of the slowdown, there remains hot spots throughout the UK for rental growth. Landbay has mapped the top 10 best and worst performing local authorities for rental growth on an annual basis.
Monmouthshire in Wales leads the pack with rental growth at 3.22%, followed by Nottingham (2.87%) and Conwy (2.71%) in third. Four of the ten best performing areas are in Wales, while Scotland and England both have three apiece.
Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire top the two worst performing spots – both areas were heavily hit as the local economy was impacted by the drop-in oil price in 2014, but the area is showing signs of a recovery. England has seven of the worst performing areas.
| Top 10 areas by annual percentage change | Worst 10 areas by annual percentage change | ||||||
| Rank | Country | Area | % | Rank | Country | Area | % |
| 1 | Wales | Monmouthshire | 3.22% | 1 | Scotland | Aberdeen City | -4.44% |
| 2 | England | Nottingham | 2.87% | 2 | Scotland | Aberdeenshire | -4.30% |
| 3 | Wales | Conwy | 2.71% | 3 | England | Windsor and Maidenhead | -1.19% |
| 4 | Scotland | Stirling | 2.68% | 4 | England | Luton | -1.07% |
| 5 | Wales | Blaenau Gwent | 2.61% | 5 | England | Halton | -1.06% |
| 6 | Wales | Carmarthenshire | 2.60% | 6 | England | Kensington and Chelsea | -0.93% |
| 7 | Scotland | Inverclyde | 2.59% | 7 | England | Hartlepool | -0.85% |
| 8 | Scotland | Edinburgh City | 2.58% | 8 | England | Brent | -0.76% |
| 9 | England | Northamptonshire | 2.51% | 9 | England | Kingston upon Thames | -0.50% |
| 10 | England | Bristol | 2.42% | 10 | Scotland | Angus | -0.39% |
John Goodall, CEO and co-founder of Landbay said: “Rental growth across the UK is stuttering. However, there are signs of a recovering market in London and stronger demand for rental properties. On the face of it, landlords have had a tough time in the past two years from increased regulatory pressure to a significant increase in stamp duty costs, yet they have managed to shoulder many of these costs without passing them onto tenants.
“With an interest rate rise on the horizon, many landlords that are stuck on variable rates or those looking to refinance will likely feel the impact. Therefore, tenants could be hit by rent rises in the near future as landlords look to recover some of the cost.”
UK Rental Index by country (all beds)
| July 2018 | YoY | MoM | Av. £ |
| UK | 0.84% | 0.08% | 1,206 |
| UK exc. London | 1.18% | 0.11% | 765 |
| England | 0.81% | 0.09% | 1,237 |
| England exc. London | 1.18% | 0.12% | 771 |
| Scotland | 0.98% | 0.01% | 734 |
| Wales | 1.60% | 0.10% | 651 |
| London | 0.20% | 0.03% | 1,887 |
| Northern Ireland | 1.45% | -0.21% | 573 |
UK Rental Index by region (all beds)
| July 2018 | YoY | MoM | Av. £ |
| East England | 1.46% | 0.13% | 916 |
| East Midlands | 2.00% | 0.13% | 630 |
| London | 0.20% | 0.03% | 1,887 |
| North East | 0.14% | 0.08% | 552 |
| North West | 0.97% | 0.13% | 622 |
| South East | 0.85% | 0.11% | 1,059 |
| South West | 1.43% | 0.13% | 753 |
| West Midlands | 1.42% | 0.12% | 690 |
| Yorkshire and Humberside | 1.37% | 0.14% | 581 |
UK Rental Index by country and number of beds
| July 2018 | One bed | Two bed | Three bed | ||||||
| YoY | MoM | Av. £ | YoY | MoM | Av. £ | YoY | MoM | Av. £ | |
| UK | 0.75% | 0.09% | 1,023 | 0.90% | 0.10% | 1,167 | 1.09% | 0.11% | 1,343 |
| UK exc. London | 1.13% | 0.12% | 604 | 1.21% | 0.14% | 721 | 1.40% | 0.12% | 835 |
| England | 0.74% | 0.09% | 1,057 | 0.88% | 0.11% | 1,203 | 1.07% | 0.11% | 1,364 |
| England exc. London | 1.18% | 0.14% | 612 | 1.22% | 0.16% | 725 | 1.41% | 0.12% | 831 |
| Scotland | 0.41% | 0.01% | 551 | 0.92% | 0.00% | 698 | 1.26% | 0.09% | 1,137 |
| Wales | 1.87% | 0.08% | 554 | 1.60% | 0.11% | 667 | 1.32% | 0.11% | 623 |
| Northern Ireland | 0.70% | 0.00% | 443 | 1.22% | -0.07% | 553 | 1.14% | 0.55% | 583 |
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