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North East rental prices remain low despite national surge

A record surge in month-on-month rental prices takes the average rent to a new peak across England and Wales, according to a new report.

The latest Buy-to-Let Index from Your Move and Reeds Rains found that property rental prices shown an annual increase of 3.1% in the North East. On a monthly basis, rents across the region rose by 1.3% between June and July 2015.

However, the North East remains the cheapest region to rent property as the report shows an average monthly rate of £523 for July.

In the fastest monthly rise seen since records began in 2009, rents across England and Wales rose by 1.9% in July, up from £789 the previous month to £804 - 53 per cent higher than the North East average.

Adrian Gill, director of estate agents Reeds Rains and Your Move, comments: “Just when you think the rental market is accelerating at full throttle, it finds a way to shift into a higher gear. We’re seeing rent rises manage to hit record-breaking speeds on both monthly and yearly timeframes as far back as our data can go.

“But rents are just a small part of the larger economic machine. The fact that they’re purring along at higher-than-ever speeds is a sign that the rest of the economy is picking up. An engine can’t use fuel it doesn’t have. These rent rises are a reflection of heavier wage packets being fed back into economy now that the rust from the recession has been cleaned off the cogs”

Four of the ten regions of England and Wales saw record rent peaks in July – London, Yorkshire & the Humber, and the East and West Midlands – while every region saw increases compared to last year.

Adrian Gill concludes: “July has seen us head back down the path towards greater financial security. It’s true that any rise in arrears is a setback, but the greater trend is clearly towards tenants in better control of their finances.

“The question isn’t if we’re able to improve the proportion of rent that falls into arrears, but how quickly we can improve it.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ellen Forster .