Rental yields across England and Wales were up slightly in the third quarter, with an average of 7.2% according to research from Fleet Mortgages.
This is up 0.3% from the 6.9% registered at the same point in 2023, but down by 0.4% from the second quarter in 2024.
According to Fleet Mortgages, there was a quarterly dip in rental yields across most regions in England and Wales.
Of the ten regions analysed, only the east midlands maintained a rental yield figure (7.5%) from the previous quarter. Meanwhile Yorkshire and Humberside registered a slight increase of 0.1%.
On a year-on-year basis, the North East registered the strongest increase in rental income with a 1.3% increase between the third quarters of 2023 and 2024. In contrast, rents in London only increased by 0.5% between these periods.
However, London is still home to the highest average monthly rent per property. In the third quarter of 2024 this increased to £2,134 from £2,024 the previous quarter.
Renting is the most affordable in the North East, where renters paid an average of £702 over the third quarter. This actually fell from £768 in the second quarter.
“It’s our belief that the demand-supply disparity is not as acute as it was previously, however many landlord borrowers are waiting to see what the budget holds for them, and whether any further increase in taxation or costs are going to need to be faced, and paid for,” said Steve Cox, chief commercial officer at Fleet Mortgages.
“It’s still a solid and stable picture, helped no doubt by the fall in lending costs, which clearly makes affordability easier to achieve, albeit we are still a little way off the rates available in the pre-‘mini budget’ era.”
