The Deposit Protection Service (DPS) has reported that renting became more affordable in 2018 due to what it called a combination of a “once-in-a-decade fall in annual rents and wage inflation”.
2018 was the first calendar year since the global financial crisis of 2008 that average rents decreased in the UK, with the percentage of wages spent on rents dropping 0.5% to 31%, according to The DPS Rent Index.
Wages increased on average by 2.83%, according to ONS data for the period between January and December 2018, the report said.
The average rent in the UK fell by £9 (or 1.17%) from £774 in 2017, to £765 in 2018.
Julian Foster, chief operating officer at Computershare Investor Services, which produces the annual report, said: ”This first drop in average annual rents for almost 10 years is good news for UK renters, especially if wages continue to climb in 2019.”
The biggest annual fall was in Yorkshire and the Humber, where average rents fell by £21 (3.63%) to £546, making it the third most affordable area in the UK after the North East (£529) and Northern Ireland (£544).
Rents in the North East fell by 1.47%, or around £8 compared with 2017, with average rents being around 32% lower than the national average.
The second most affordable region was Northern Ireland, however annual rents rose from historically low levels by 2.38% last year, from £532 in 2017 to £544.
Scotland and Wales witnessed modest growth in rents compared with 2017, with Scottish rents rising by a marginal £1 (0.19%), while in Wales rents rose on average by £8 (1.42%).
In England, only the South West (0.21%) and West Midlands (0.12%) experienced annual growth, with the increase equivalent to around an additional pound.
As in 2017, London, the South East, and the East were the only regions last year where annual average rents were above the UK national average.
London continues to have the most expensive average annual rent in the UK, at £1,294, 69% higher than the national average, and representing 41% of average London wages.
Decreases were experienced in average UK rents for all property types, with terraced properties showing the largest decline (2.49%), producing average rents of £711 in 2018.
Between September and December (Q4) 2018, the average UK rent marginally increased, however, by a modest £1 (0.15%), taking the average national rent to £762.
Rents in London increased only marginally by £1 (0.07%) to £1,291 compared with Q3 2018, £35 (2.62%) lower than the same period in 2017.
The West Midlands saw the largest quarterly increase in rent in the UK, rising by £19 (3.02%) in the last quarter, to £636.
