Rental growth for new contracts came to 12% on a yearly basis this December, says Zoopla.

This is double average earnings growth over the same time frame – 6%.

It also means that the average single earner is paying the highest proportion of their salary on rent for over a decade, 35%.

Average rent for a new let, having gone up £117 per month across the year, is now £1,078 each month.

Zoopla’s report also shows that the number of properties on the market available for rent is down 4% compared to last November and 38% down on the five-year average.

Meanwhile, enquiries for rental properties is up 46% on the five-year average per estate agency branch.

Rental growth for renewed contracts was up 3.8% in the 12 months to October, Zoopla adds, saying: “This gap is why a growing number of renters are renewing their rental properties and staying put to avoid rate hikes if they move – however, this trend is compounding the supply problems in the sector.”

Says Zoopla executive director Richard Donnell: “Renters are paying the price for low levels of new investment in private rented housing over the last six years.

“A chronic lack of supply is behind the rapid growth in rents which are increasingly unaffordable for the nation’s renters, especially single-person households and those on low incomes. Many are also staying put to avoid the worst of rent increases.”

He add: “Only a big increase in investment in the sector will ease the pressure on affordability and boost consumer choice. In the short term, we expect the growing unaffordability of renting to reduce rental increases in 2023 to 5%.”

Hargreaves Lansdown senior personal finance analyst Sarah Coles comments: “[The] Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors has warned for months that landlords are selling up in huge numbers.

“New tenant rights and energy efficiency legislation will make living conditions better for renters, but they also mean that for many landlords the investment required means the numbers no longer add up. They’ve been selling out at market highs and cashing in their investment.

“The rise in mortgage rates was also tough on landlords, who need to cover their mortgage payments with room to spare in order to hit affordability rules, so this will also be forcing some of them out of business.”