Rents rose by 4.6% year-on-year in January 2025, bringing the average to £1,207 per property, up from £1,154 in January 2024, according to the Goodlord Rental Index.
The North East saw the biggest jump in rents at over 8%, while the East Midlands had the smallest at just 1%.
Month-on-month, rents increased from £1,185 in December to £1,207 in January, nearly a 2% rise.
This is the fifth year in a row that rents have risen from December to January.
London had the highest average rent at £2,044 per month, up 3% since December.
The North East had the lowest average rents at £911, reflecting a 5% month-on-month increase.
The South East was the only region where rents decreased, by 0.6%.
Despite these rising rents, confirmed rental prices are significantly lower than advertised prices.
Goodlord found that average confirmed rents in the last quarter of 2024 were up to 20% cheaper than advertisements outside London and 24% cheaper in London.
Rightmove reported advertised averages of £1,341 outside London and £2,695 in London, while Goodlord’s confirmed averages were £1,070 and £2,046, respectively.
Voids increased from 21 days in December to 24 days in January, the longest since April 2021.
The West Midlands saw the biggest increase, with voids extending from 18 days to 23.
The South East was the only region to maintain a steady average of 22 days and also experienced a slight fall in rents.
William Reeve, CEO of Goodlord, said: “There’s a lot to analyse in this month’s Rental Index. On the face of it, you have another month of rising rents and a rebound in pace of year-on-year increases.
“But when you dig a little deeper you can see that the void periods are at their highest since 2021 and confirmed rents are meaningfully undercutting advertised prices.
Reeve added: “It’s a picture of a market that continues to be buffeted by supply and demand issues, but that could be teetering its way towards stabilising.
“We are definitely seeing a softening in the market.
“Whilst we predict that confirmed rental prices will continue to rise this year, particularly over the summer, wider indices imply it’s unlikely 2025 will bring the major rise in year-on-year figures we saw last year.”
