The government is being urged to introduce urgent rent controls as new data reveals that tenants in Britain are now paying an average of £417 more per month than they were five years ago, a 44% increase that far exceeds the pace of wage growth.
In London, the average rent now stands at £1,365 per month, up 3.9% from the same period last year. Outside the capital, the figure has reached a record-breaking £2,712 per month. According to property website Rightmove, advertised rents for new tenancies in the capital have risen 1.9% year-on-year.
Ben Twomey, chief executive of the tenants’ rights group Generation Rent, warned that escalating rent prices are becoming unsustainable for many: “Landlords often blame rising rents on demand being higher than the number of homes available, but it is now clear that high rents are here to stay, even as the number of renters looking for homes is falling.
“When so much of our income is swallowed up by landlords, it can mean that we can’t afford to heat our homes for the winter or feed ourselves properly.
“Some renters are staring down the barrel of debt and homelessness.
“The government can and must act urgently. We rightly have caps on essentials like energy and water bills, but we desperately need the same protection from the soaring rents that are pricing us out of our homes.”
Colleen Babcock, a property expert at Rightmove, said: “Despite another new record in average asking rents for tenants, the big picture is that yearly rent increases continue to slow, which is good news for tenants.
“Supply and demand is slowly rebalancing towards more normal levels, though we still have a way to go before we reach pre-2020 levels of available homes for tenants.”
Alex Caddy, manager at Clarkes Estate and Letting Agency, said: “The rental market has undergone a marked shift in 2025.
“After several years of sharp rent inflation post-pandemic, tenants hit a ceiling by late 2024, leading to widespread price slowdowns.
“Competitively priced, well-presented properties continue to attract strong interest, echoing trends seen in the sales market. However, the market is now dealing with a much higher supply of rental homes, a complex reversal of previous trends.
“Some landlords have exited the sector over the past two years due to rising regulatory and financial pressures, but with the sales market slowing in some areas, a growing number of those properties have re-entered the rental market.
“Demand remains robust, particularly for quality one and two bedroom homes. Larger properties are moving more slowly, with some seeing longer void periods as tenants benefit from increased choice.”