The latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) Private Rent and House Price data showed average UK private rents increased by 3.4% to £1,377 in the 12 months to March 2026.
The annual growth rate was down from 3.6% in February.
In England, rents rose to £1,434, in Wales to £830, in Scotland to £1,022, and in Northern Ireland to £880.
Rent inflation was highest in the North East at 6.5% and lowest in London at 1.7%.
Average UK house prices increased by 1.2% to £268,000 in the 12 months to February 2026.
House prices rose to £290,000 in England, £210,000 in Wales and £187,000 in Scotland.
REACTION:
Jeremy Leaf, north London estate agent and former RICS residential chairman:
“The most comprehensive of all the rental market surveys shows that rents are still rising but not as quickly as previously, partly due to worries about inflation having an impact on affordability.
“However, rents may have dropped further if they weren’t supported by a shortage of stock, exacerbated by landlords leaving the sector ahead of the introduction of the new Renters’ Rights Act at the beginning of May.”
Alex Upton, managing director, specialist mortgages & bridging finance at HTB:
“Rental growth has slowed from the peaks seen over the past two years, but the underlying pressure has not gone away.
“Demand continues to outstrip supply in many parts of the market, particularly for well-located and better-quality stock, and that imbalance is likely to persist while delivery of new housing remains below what is needed.
“What has changed is landlord confidence. Expansion is no longer the default response to rising demand.
“Investors are becoming more selective and more deliberate in how they deploy capital.
“The focus has shifted towards resilience, refining portfolios, strengthening income and moving towards assets that can perform more consistently under tighter regulatory and cost conditions.
“That shift is reshaping funding requirements. Landlords are not simply adding new properties, they are restructuring.
“This includes releasing capital selectively, consolidating borrowing and repositioning portfolios to reflect changing margins and longer-term strategy, often through more complex, transitional transactions.
“It requires lenders who can assess cases on their merits and structure funding around how portfolios operate in practice. In this environment, clarity and consistency matter.
“Where funding remains accessible and decisions are grounded in a clear understanding of the underlying strategy, confidence holds.
“Where it does not, it falls away quickly. Over time, that feeds directly into supply and availability. Without that stability, the rental market does not rebalance, it tightens.”
Nathan Emerson, CEO of Propertymark:
“Rising rental prices continue to reflect the chronic imbalance between supply and demand in the private rented sector.
“Letting agents across the UK are consistently reporting high tenant demand alongside a shortage of available properties, which is inevitably placing upward pressure on rents.
“Propertymark’s latest member data shows that an average of seven applicants are registering per available property.
“This is not a short-term trend; it reflects years of underinvestment in the sector and growing regulatory pressures, which are discouraging landlords from entering or remaining in the market.
“If rents are to stabilise, measures that support supply must be prioritised, including support for landlords and a regulatory environment that encourages long-term investment. Without this, affordability challenges for tenants will likely only intensify.”