Average UK monthly private rent increased by 3.7% to £1,393 in the 12 months to July 2026, according to new Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures released this week. This annual growth rate is up from 3.3% in the 12 months to June 2026.
Average rents increased to £1,451 (3.8%) in England, £843 (4.5%) in Wales, and £1,016 (1.7%) in Scotland in the 12 months to July 2026. In Northern Ireland, average rents increased to £875 (2.3%) in the 12 months to May 2026. In England, private rent annual inflation was highest in the North East (6.3%) and lowest in the South East (2.9%) in the 12 months to July 2026.
House price growth slows to 2%
Average UK house prices increased by 2% to £272,000 in the 12 months to June 2026, down from 3.0% in the 12 months to May 2026. Average house prices increased to £293,000 (1.8%) in England, £213,000 (1.8%) in Wales, and £195,000 (2.3%) in Scotland in the 12 months to June 2026.
Babek Ismayil, CEO of homebuying platform OneDome, said tenants were struggling with rising rents. He added: "Tenants in many areas of the country are already facing extremely steep rents, and they continue to edge higher. If more landlords decide to leave the sector and rental supply falls, that could put further upward pressure on rents. For renters hoping to move into homeownership, higher monthly housing costs can make it harder to save and take that next step."
Industry experts weigh in on the market
Rupert Collingwood, founder of The London Broker, said: "It is increasingly acknowledged that the Renters' Rights Act (RRA) may be delivering some well-signposted consequences, which were only 'unexpected' to those in government who wrote the legislation. Landlords are leaving the market, and those who remain are putting their prices up not only due to demand but also because the RRA stopped landlords taking offers over their asking price."
Jamie Elvin, director of London-based Strive Mortgages, said demand was outstripping supply in the rental market. He added: "House prices are still rising, but the slowdown from 3% to 2% suggests affordability is putting a ceiling on growth. More telling is rents accelerating again, showing the fundamental problem remains: demand continues to outstrip supply."
"For first-time buyers, rising rents make saving a deposit harder while house prices keep moving the goalposts. The long-term answer isn't just lower mortgage rates — we need more homes, faster planning and a rental market that encourages landlords to stay. Until supply improves, the pressure will continue to show up in either rents, house prices, or both."
Calls for more supply and affordable homes
Katy Eatenton, mortgage and protection specialist at Eatenton Finance, said the housing market was struggling. She added: "The property market is certainly not firing on all cylinders but equally prices aren't falling, in no small part due to the ongoing lack of supply. Now is certainly a good time to negotiate hard on price, which many first-time buyers are doing. And vendors need to price realistically or they won't sell."
Evren Ergin, founder and developer at ValuQ, said houses needed to be built near jobs and stations. He added: "The story is in the gap between the two numbers. House price growth has slowed to 2%, while rents are climbing 3.7% and still accelerating. The cost of not buying is now rising faster than the cost of buying, which quietly punishes the very people waiting for a cheaper moment to get on the ladder."
"Treat the £272,000 average with care, though. It is a national mean, and no one lives in the mean. In the same year, one English city can have its houses rising while its flats fall by double digits. Plan around the headline and you are planning around a number that describes nobody's actual home."
"How do we fix it? Supply where the demand actually is. Rents are rising fastest in the North East, at 6.3%, not because people want to pay more but because there is too little to rent. Build near jobs and stations, and both curves ease. Everything else just manages the symptom."
Patricia Ogunfeibo, founder and non-practising solicitor at London-based tenant2owner, said landlords were struggling. She added: "This is not surprising; I suspect this is the practical impact of the Renters' Rights Act coming into force on May 1, and landlords adjusting their prices upwards before then. Though I suspect that rent inflation will stabilise over the next two years."
Darryl Dhoffer, founder of The Mortgage Geezer, said he didn't think landlords were struggling at all. He added: "The average UK rent has soared to a bargain £1,393 a month. That 3.7% spike means your landlord's second holiday home is safely funded. England leads the generosity at £1,451, though the North East bags the overachiever award with a blistering 6.3% hike. Meanwhile, house prices slowed to £272k, because why let tenants save a deposit when you can squeeze every spare penny out of them first?"
"This reveals our housing market is functioning precisely as designed, which is a relentless wealth extraction funnel trapping millions in long-standing tenancies. The simple fix is to build actual social housing, kill speculative buy-to-let perks and introduce genuine rent caps."
Tony Sanchez, founder of Bridging Loan Directory, said costs had gone up across the board. He added: "These figures show the rental and sales markets moving at different speeds. House prices are still rising, but more slowly, while rent growth has picked up again. Rents increasing faster than property values may improve a landlord's gross yield on paper, but that is not the same as greater profitability."
"Mortgage costs, tax, insurance, maintenance and compliance all sit beneath the headline rent, while refinancing still depends on the lender's valuation and affordability calculations. There is no quick fix. Britain needs more homes across different tenures, but new construction takes time."
"In the meantime, policy should avoid unnecessarily reducing the existing supply of rental homes and make it easier for smaller developers to build. Ultimately, sustained additions to supply are the only durable way to ease pressure on both buyers and tenants."
Stephen Perkins, managing director of Norwich-based Yellow Brick Mortgages, said affordable housing was needed. He added: "The gap between rent growth and house price growth highlights one of the housing market's biggest problems. House prices may only be rising modestly, but renters are seeing more of their income swallowed by housing costs, making it harder to save the deposit needed to buy. Building more homes matters, but they also need to be homes people can genuinely afford to rent or buy."
