National asking rents outside London have jumped by 6.2% year on year to reach more than £1,000 a month for the first time on record, according to Rightmove.

The property website recorded the biggest annual and quarterly jumps in rents it has ever seen as rents rose by 2.6% to £1,007 since the first three months of the year.

London is the only region with rents lower than this time last year, down by 3.1%, though rents in the capital have increased this quarter for the first time since before the pandemic.

Quarterly growth in London was 1.5% with rents reaching £1,949.

Rental properties are finding a tenant quicker than ever before at an average of 21 days leading to an annual drop of 36% in the number of available rental properties.

The number of prospective tenants contacting agents about properties for rent is currently 10% higher than in July 2020, despite last year’s figures being bolstered by pent-up tenant demand from when the rental market re-opened in May.

At the start of this year Rightmove reported double digit annual declines in some of the biggest city centres across Britain, and a flood of rental properties entering the market as many tenants chose to move out of cities. There are now signs that tenants are starting to return, helping to stabilise or increase rents.

In Nottingham city centre, asking rents are up annually by 6.8%, and the next best performing city centre is Liverpool, where rents are up by 3.8%. Inner London and Edinburgh are yet to recover with rents down 6.8% and 4% respectively, but higher tenant demand is likely to lead to rents rising again over the coming months.

Areas that have seen the biggest rent rises over the past year include city suburbs, commuter towns and coastal locations. 

Rochdale, Folkestone and Farnham have all seen asking rents jump by more than 25%.

Rightmove director of property data Tim Bannister says: “At the start of this year the impact that tenants leaving cities had on rents was clear to see, but with restrictions continuing to lift we’re seeing signs of the city centre comeback. 

“As businesses settle into a more structured balance between home and office time, we expect this to continue for the rest of the year.

“Tenants across Britain are being faced with low stock and record rents in many areas, likely fuelled by some tenants signing longer leases last year and also perhaps by a rush of people who chose to move back in with family last year, who are now making plans to rent again and in many cases starting to think about their new daily commute. 

“We’re also starting to see signs of London rents creeping up again, but they’re still lower than two years ago so it will take time.”

Manchester-based letting agent Philip James is reporting a surge in tenant demand for city-centre homes resulting in a shortage of rental stock.

Director Rob Cuffe says: “In fact we currently only have 38 properties available to rent out of our 2,500 managed properties. 

“City centre rents are continuing to increase compared to this time last year and the South Manchester rental market is booming with rents up 7%. “Since lockdown we’re continuing to see an increase in demand for properties with outdoor spaces such as balconies or terraces. 

“Currently two bed city centre apartments are achieving rents in excess of £1,200 in the popular developments, and any with outside space are the most sought after. 

“We’re letting all of our properties in an average of just 10 days.”