A disparity in rental affordability is tapering between the north and south of the UK, according to new research from Landlordbuyers.com.
Despite rent in London and the south being more expensive, Landlordbuyers.com found that the gap between north and south rental values had narrowed to its lowest point in a decade.
“In fact, while it was still more expensive to rent in the south, southern rents were only 37% more expensive than those in the north – down from 43% more in August 2023 and a peak of 55% more in November 2021,” commented Jason Harris-Cohen, managing director of Landlordbuyers.com.
“One will be landlords themselves: which ones decide to exit the market and where their rentals are geographically located.
“BTL professionals are holding their breath ahead of autumn’s budget. If pockets of landlords, perhaps mainly in the south, decide to sell, we could see supply restricted, values rise and the gap widen again.”
Despite tapering, the research still found a significant gap between how much renters were paying on rent in different areas of the UK.
The research found London renters pay an average of 53.4% of their monthly salary on rent. In contrast, renters in the North East pay 24.7% of their monthly salary on rent.
For context, experts advise people should spend 30% of their monthly salary on rent.
The lowest percentages were found throughout the midlands and north — Yorkshire-based renters pay 27.8% on rent, with those in the North West paying 29%.
Renters in the east midlands pay 27.3% while renters in Wales pay 24.8%.
Outside of London, the most expensive renting regions were the south east and south west where renters pay averages of 37.5% and 36.5% respectively. Scotland was an outlier, with Scottish renters paying 32% of salary on rent.
House prices have also had an impact, according to Jason. He added: “Stagnating property and rental values in the south have been blamed for the rental value slowdown, whereas house price growth in the north has been broadly strong.
“If this trend continues, we could see northern values increase further and approach something more like rental equilibrium across the country.”
