Aberdeen continues to be the most expensive city in Scotland, according to Citylets’ latest quarterly rental report.
It has held the ‘top’ position since the report started five years ago.
Dan Cookson, senior analyst at Citylets, said: “Aberdeen and Edinburgh both continue to be the most expensive places to rent as well as both having the lowest time to let (TTL) figures in the country which indicates that the private rental markets continue to thrive.
“This quarter’s figures have revealed Dundee as the most affordable city to rent, however Glasgow does continue to have a good mixture of rents available for those on a budget and also for those looking at the higher end of the scale.
“The local authority areas that we have added to the report make for really interesting reading with West Lothian coming in as the most expensive of the four areas and Renfrewshire is the most affordable.”
Citylets figures show that in Q3 2012 the average rent in Scotland reached an all time high at £672, although this was only a 1% increase on the same period of last year. Meanwhile, the average time to let (TTL) figures remained at 39 days, one day longer than last year.
Aberdeen held on to its title as most expensive place to rent in the country with the average two bed rents experiencing an increase of 2.4% on the same quarter last year to bring it to £899, a third more than the Scottish average. The city’s average TTL figures all improved with the biggest change in two bed properties to 20 days improved from last year’s figure of 25 days.
Dundee’s average rent currently stands at £531, down by 2.4% on the same quarter of last year, three bed rents in the city increased by 7% to £706 but these larger properties only represent 10% of transactions in the city. The average TTL figures increased to 50 days, 21 days more than Q3 of last year.
In the capital the market continued to see a steady increase with people paying on average £729 for a two bed property, 1.3% up on the figure of last year. Just outside of Edinburgh, West Lothian also saw an increase of 1.3% of two beds with the average rent sitting at £536, and Fife experienced a fall of 1.2% to £485 for two bed rents.
Glasgow still offers many affordable areas to rent with two bed properties coming in under the Scottish average at £622 and one bed properties a small increase of 1.3% to £472. TTL in the city remained remarkably similar to the same period of last year with the average figure for the city standing at 41 days which is just above the national average of 39 days.
Meanwhile the new reporting areas introduced of South Lanarkshire and Renfrewshire both showed similar trends with both areas coming in under £400 for two bed properties and both experiencing fairly high TTL figures with 53 days for a two bed in South Lanarkshire and 48 days in Renfrewshire.