Yahoo Finance UK rents to rise by £1,260 in London and £600 across the country, surveyors warn
Tenants should brace for a 4% hike in rent over 2024 as many Britons continue to be priced out of the housing ladder, according to surveyors.
Tenant demand is rising overall with not enough properties available as landlord instructions are falling, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).
The imbalance means that most surveyors are already predicting rental prices will increase over the three months and surge by 4% over the next year.
With monthly rents outside of London currently averaging £1,278 and a record of £2,627 a month in London, a 4% rise will see tenants pay an extra £613 a year in rent in 2024. For those who live in the capital, the increase will be an extra £1,260 in 2024.
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The survey also revealed that house prices are still dropping but at a slower pace. A net balance of 63% of property professionals reported house prices falling rather than increasing in October, easing from a balance of 67% in September.
The typical UK property in October had a £281,974 price tag, according to Halifax.
The latest house price reading “suggests the pace of decline, from a national perspective, has levelled off in recent weeks".
"Nonetheless, the house price metric remains deeply negative across most parts of the UK, even if the latest readings have moved off the lows hit over the past couple of months in the majority of cases,” the report said.
Sales activity remained weak, with a net balance of 25% of property professionals reporting a decline in sales rather than a rise in October.
Sarah Coles, Yahoo Finance UK columnist and head of personal finance at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “Sellers have a choice. If they don’t desperately need to move, they might want to wait it out – until mortgage rates drop and buyers come back. If they need to sell, they have to price their home realistically – brutally so.”
Read more: UK house prices rise for first time since March
Sentiment suggests there is unlikely to be any significant turnaround in sales through the remainder of 2023.
RICS senior public affairs officer Dominic Collier said: “More homes need to be built in the right places and more of them need to be affordable.
“Existing homes require more support to improve their energy efficiency, to reduce their bills and help tackle our net-zero targets. We will continue to collaborate with the government in addressing these challenges but also these opportunities.”
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