The average rent in the UK is now £932, up by 2.5% on the same time last year, according to figures from Homelet’s January 2019 Rental Index.

Excluding London, the average rent in the UK rests at £775 – a 2% rise on last year. In London, however, average rents are now £1,588, up by 3.7% on last year.

The region with the largest year-on-year increase is the South West, showing a 5.1% increase between January 2018 and January 2019.

Of the 12 regions monitored by HomeLet, the North East is the only area that showed a decrease in rental values between January 2018 and January 2019.

Martin Totty, chief executive at HomeLet, commented: “For landlords there remains a sustained demand for property, with the private rental sector continuing to provide the market with both flexible and long-term housing options.”

He said the slowdown in the rate of house price growth is being driven by the ‘depressed’ London market, which saw house prices decline by 0.8% during the last quarter of 2018.

“In contrast, we have seen average rental values in the capital rise by over 4% in the latter stages of the year. Ultimately, we would expect this theme to continue in London, if the demand for property outweighs supply.”

Commenting on the outlook for 2019, Totty added: “Whilst the outlook for property investors remains positive, one of the key concerns for the market in 2019 would be a potential lack of supply in certain regions.”

“Our data provides us with a forward-looking view of the rental market, so it will be interesting to see how this theme develops in early 2019.”

HomeLet reference over 500,000 tenants every year. The trends reported within the Rental Index are brand new tenancies, which were arranged in the most recent period.