In April 2025, the average rent per property in England was £1,216. This is 4.2% higher than April 2024’s figure of £1,166. This equates to an increase of £50 per month (or £600 per year) for tenants. However, April’s year-on-year rise of 4.2% is slightly lower than March’s figure of 4.6%.
At a regional level, the North West, South East and West Midlands all recorded year-on-year rent rises of over 5%. At the other end of the scale, the East Midlands recorded an annual rise of less than 1%.
In better news for tenants, year-on-year salary increases continue to outstrip the rising cost of rent. The average salary of a renter signing a new tenancy agreement in April 2025 was £38,629 - 4.94% higher than April 2024’s average of £36,810.
From a month-on-month perspective, rents rose for the fourth month in a row during April. Average rent per property rose by a modest 0.2% - increasing from £1,213 in March to £1,216 in April.
Properties in the East Midlands, North East, North West and the South West all saw a small uptick in average costs. The largest shift was in the North East, where prices jumped by over 2%.
However, Greater London, the South East, and the West Midlands all saw marginal reductions in the average cost of rent. London saw the biggest decrease, with prices down 1% in the capital during April.
Void periods remain unchanged during April at 21 days, indicating consistently high demand across the market.
However, the current void length of 21 days is slightly higher year-on-year - in April 2024, voids sat at 19 days.
Greater London is recording the shortest voids currently, with properties changing hands in just 16 days on average. The longest voids are seen in the East Midlands, at the significantly higher figure of 28 days.
“It’s been another month of steadily increasing rents, at a time of the year when we often see more ups and downs in terms of rental averages. This continues to underscore the prediction that this summer will bring a rental spike across the country, although rising salaries will be offsetting this impact for tenants to some degree. And whilst the regional picture is nuanced when it comes to voids, the national averages highlight steady demand from tenants for new properties as we hurtle towards the busiest months on the lettings calendar.”