New ONS data shows highest ever recorded private sector rent levels in England

Based on a sample of almost half a million rents, ONS reports that median monthly rent was £825 between April 2022 and March 2023

New data published today by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows that private sector rent levels in England have reached the highest ever recorded.

Setting out figures for the private rental market in England between April 2022 and March 2023, the ONS reports that the median monthly rent was £825 for England, with the highest rents in London and the lowest in the North East –

'Rental prices and the spread of rents tended to be higher in the southern regions of England than in the Midlands and northern regions.

The median monthly rent was highest in London at £1,500, which is £502 higher than the next largest median rent, which was £998 in the South East. The median monthly rent for the North East was £550; this is the lowest of all regions.

London rents had the greatest range of prices of all regions. This is because rent prices in Inner London tend to be higher than for Outer London. The median monthly rent for Inner London was £1,797 compared with £1,375 for Outer London.'

Based on a sample of of 466,090 rents recorded between 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023, the ONS says that the median monthly rent of £825 across the country is the highest ever recorded.

In addition, the ONS reports today that private rental prices paid by tenants in the UK increased by 5.0 per cent in the 12 months to May 2023, representing the largest annual percentage change since it began tracking rent levels in 2016.

For more information, see Private rental market summary statistics in England: April 2022 to March 2023 and Index of Private Housing Rental Prices, UK: May 2023 from ons.gov.uk