Average private monthly UK rents lifted 8.4% to £1,295 in the year to September, official data shows.
This is unchanged from the previous month and below the record-high annual rise of 9.2% in March, according to the Office for National Statistics, but is more than four times the rate of inflation at 1.7%.
Typical lets rose 8.5% to £1,336 in England, unchanged from the previous month.
In Wales, they increased 8.3% to £760, down from 8.5% the previous month, while in Scotland rents rose 7.2% to £973, down from 7.6% the month before.
In Northern Ireland, lets increased by 9.5% in the year to July, said the department without citing a cash figure, down from 9.9% the previous month.
The report adds that rent inflation was highest in London, at 9.8%, and lowest in the South West and Yorkshire and The Humber, at 6.3%.
The data comes ahead of Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ 30 October Budget, where landlords fear capital gains levies on their properties may be raised, prompting some to sell early.
Hargreaves Lansdown head of personal finance Sarah Coles says: “Budget threats helped rents continue their relentless rise last month, reaching a punishing average of £1,336.
“And that’s just for those who are able to find a place to live. Given the continued exodus of landlords, renters face the double misery of fighting over the scraps and then paying a fortune for them.
“There’s nothing new in the trend for landlords to leave the market, but the Budget has created a new impetus.
“Zoopla figures earlier this month showed that 13% of properties for sale were previously rented out, and with a dearth of landlords prepared to buy right now, there’s every chance they’ll be lost to the rental market.
Coles adds: “Fears of changes to capital gains tax in the Budget are driving plenty of sales. There’s a concern that the rate could rise, or the rule which means it resets on death could change.
“Property is already one of the least tax-efficient ways to invest, and either change could make it even more punishing for those with investment properties.”
North London estate agent and a former Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors residential chairman Jeremy Leaf, points out: “Rents are still rising strongly which shows demand continues to outpace supply but as we have also found in our offices there is an affordability ceiling which tenants are finding increasingly difficult to break.
“Unfortunately, too many good landlords are leaving the sector in response to concerns about increasing tax and regulatory issues.
“Prospects of an improvement in choice and substantial softening in rents therefore seems unlikely for the time being at least.”
