The average cost of renting a property in Britain increased by 0.75% in October, which equates to £7, according to Move with Us.
At the same time, advertised rents in London continue to increase but remain £42 down on last year.
However, the monthly increase of 1.47% in average rents means that the capital remains approximately 209% more expensive than the rest of the country. After levelling out in September, average advertised rents in London grew by over £32 in October.
Move with Us said that throughout the first half of the year, both the South East and East Anglia experienced consistent growth in average advertised rents to the extent that they became a more viable and profitable alternative for investors than the London property market.
While average rents in both of these regions remain strong, at £1,145 and £889 per month respectively, the markets appear to have settled somewhat with minimal declines of 0.13% and 0.6%.
Throughout October rents increased across the country as a whole, bolstered by surprising growth from the regions which have recently been in a period of general stability or gradual decline. The outcome of this growth has been a 0.75% increase in the average advertised rent across Great Britain, with average asking rents at £975 at the end of the month.
Rents in the East Midlands, North East and Wales saw healthy increases at the end of October with average asking prices rising by 4.31%, 4.19% and 3.94%.
Robin King, director of Move with Us, said: “The surprise for October has been the sudden growth of approximately £25 in the average rents in the East Midlands, North East and Wales. All three of these regions performed unimpressively over recent months and these unexpected peaks mean that the markets are expected to finish the year much closer to the advertised rents of October 2012, and in the case of the East Midlands, outperforming this level.
“The strong performance of these regions throughout October was contrary to the performance of other regions but has been significant enough to push the average for the country up, while many of the strong performing and established regions have actually witnessed a decline.”
