Rent has soared across the UK with a typical private home now costing £1,360 a month – an increase of 5 per cent compared with last year’s average when it was £1,295
Private rent prices have increased by an average of £65 a month in the UK over the last year.
It cost £1,360 a month to rent the typical private home in the 12 months to October, according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics. That’s an increase of 5.0 per cent compared to a year earlier when the average was £1,295.
Rent inflation does appear to be slowing, however. Private rents were up by 8.6 per cent back in October 2024 and 8.4 per cent in 2023.
It does mean though that rents have increased by nearly a third (30 per cent) in just four years. Rents were £314 a month cheaper in 2021 than they are in 2025, on average. Had they increased at an annual rate of 2 per cent from 2021 – as they had been up until then – rents would now be £1,132 a month, £228 less than they are today.
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Some parts of the country are experiencing much higher rent inflation than others. Newport has seen the largest increases in the UK.
The typical rent in the city was £938 a month in the year to October. That’s up a whopping 17.1 per cent compared to a year earlier. Despite the double-digit increase though, inflation is falling there.
Rent inflation was as high as 21.2 per cent in June of this year, and 21.4 per cent in January. Private rents in the city have increased by nearly £300 in the last four years. The average rent in the city was just £656 a month back in October 2021. That’s an increase of 43.0 per cent.
Newcastle upon Tyne has the next highest annual rent inflation in the country at 14.9 per cent That’s followed by West Lancashire at 12.1 per cent, Barking and Dagenham at 11.8 per cent, Gloucester at 11.6 per cent, Broxbourne at 11.4 per cent, and Rhondda Cynon Taf at 11.4 per cent.
You can see how much private rents have increased by in each local authority by using our interactive map
Most expensive places to rent in the UK
Local authority: Average monthly rent
Kensington and Chelsea: £3,633
Westminster: £3,223
Camden: £2,795
Hammersmith and Fulham: £2,731
Islington: £2,708
Hackney: £2,567
Wandsworth: £2,552
Lambeth: £2,476
Tower Hamlets: £2,374
Southwark: £2,345
Largest increases since 2021
Local authority: Percentage increase
Tameside: 47.3 per cent
Merthyr Tydfil: 45.7 per cent
Torfaen: 44.6 per cent
Rossendale: 44.3 per cent
Rhondda Cynon Taf: 43.9 per cent
Blaenau Gwent: 43.2 per cent
Newport: 43.0 per cent
Bury: 42.6 per cent
Salford : 42.0 per cent
Leicester: 41.3 per cent
Hounslow: 40.7 per cent
Folkestone and Hythe: 40.6 per cent
Oldham: 40.5 per cent
North Lanarkshire: 39.7 per cent
Islington: 39.6 per cent
Kensington and Chelsea: 39.5 per cent
Manchester: 38.8 per cent
Trafford: 38.7 per cent
Nuneaton and Bedworth: 38.5 per cent
