The Scottish private rented sector has experienced a considerable rise in the average rent for two-bedroom properties, the most common property size.
As of the year ending September 2023, these rents increased by 14.3% to an average of £841 per month, up by £105 compared with the previous year.
In all 18 Broad Rental Market Areas of Scotland, two-bedroom rents have seen an increase. Notably, 11 of these areas experienced increases above the UK’s average Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation rate of 9.0%.
The range of these increases varied, with South Lanarkshire witnessing a 9.6% rise (or £59 per month) and Greater Glasgow seeing a substantial 22.3% hike (or £191 per month).
On the lower end, Dumfries and Galloway reported a 1.5% increase (or £7 per month), West Lothian 2.3% (or £16 per month), Perth and Kinross 2.8% (or £18 per month), and Highland and Islands 3.0% (or £19 per month).
The area of Lothian had the highest average monthly rent for two-bedroom properties at £1,192, while Dumfries and Galloway reported the lowest at £487.
The upward trend in rents was not limited to two-bedroom properties; it was observed across all property sizes in Scotland in the latest year. One-bedroom properties saw an increase of 11.7%, reaching £648 per month.
Three-bedroom properties experienced a 13.3% rise, averaging £1,026 per month, and four-bedroom properties went up by 13.4%, reaching £1,656 per month.
Additionally, one-bedroom shared properties witnessed a 15.1% increase, averaging £490 per month.
Cumulatively, from 2010 to 2023, regions like Lothian and Greater Glasgow have seen rent increases above the rate of inflation for all property sizes.
Conversely, Argyll and Bute, the Ayrshires, and Dumfries and Galloway have recorded rent increases below the rate of inflation for all property sizes in the same period.
These statistics predominantly reflect advertised rents, representing rates for properties newly available for rent or new to the rental market, and do not consider the Cost of Living (Tenants Protection) (Scotland) Act 2022 rent cap restrictions from September 2022, which are applicable only to existing tenants.
