UK's greatest rental price growth over the last five years

Fresh analysis looking at rental prices across the UK and how they have increased over the last five years shows that York, Manchester, and Ipswich have seen the strongest growth during that period.

Typical rents in York have increased by an average of 38.1% between 2014 and 2019, rising from £749 per month to £1,034, according to the research by ideal flatmate.

Manchester saw growth of 37.8%, followed by 37.7% in Ipswich and 37% in South Gloucestershire.

Barking and Dagenham has seen the largest rise in London at 33.2%.

In terms of countries, properties in England have seen the strongest rise in rental prices over the past five years, increasing by an average of 15.6%.

Scotland saw growth of 14.7%, followed by 11.5% in Northern Ireland, while Wales has seen rental growth of just 3.11% over the course of five years.

Regionally there's quite a disparity in terms of the rental growth in England, with the East of England leading the way in terms of for proportional rental growth, rising by 22.1%. The second-highest increase is the East Midlands at an average of 14.94%.

There has been growth of between 12-13% across the rest of England, with the exception of the North East, where average rents have grown the least at an average of 10.41%.

Among the small number of areas to actually see rents fall are Aberdeen, Moray, and Leeds.

Average rents in Aberdeen City and Moray, both in Scotland, have each dropped by 21.7% in the past five years from £923 a month to £723 a month.

Meanwhile, Leeds has seen the biggest rental fall in rents in England, plunging by 18.1% from £928 a month to £760 a month.

Tom Gatzen, co-founder of ideal flatmate, said: "While initial rental affordability may be based on the cost of renting in a given area, many renters are aware of this cost and make a choice to live there.

"However, the real squeeze in rental affordability is the continued increase in rents in many parts of the UK on an annual basis.

"While an increase of £250 over five years might not sound significant, for those renting in York and already struggling with the cost, it's enough to price them out of the sector altogether.

"Over the last five years, the growing preference for people to share the burden and live with others rather than go it alone has been driven out of necessity rather than choice, but at least, we have better platforms, technology, and transparency to accommodate this growing trend now."

Rankings - best locations from 2014 to 2019 - by average rental price change/growth

Rankings - worst locations from 2014 to 2019 - by average rental price change/growth