Table of Contents
- The cheapest cities to rent in the UK
- The UK cities with the most affordable rent (and least)
- The cheapest rent by region & country
- The very lowest rents in the UK
- Are rents falling?
- The highest rents in the UK
- The cheapest areas to rent in London
- Is it better to rent a house or buy?
- What do experts think about the rental market?
- UK rental market forecasts
- Cheapest UK Rent FAQs
Finding somewhere affordable to live can be hard. Buyers may be frustrated by higher mortgage rates and house prices, while tenants can do little but watch as rents continue to rise. However, some parts of the UK are cheaper to rent than others.
The cheapest cities to rent in the UK
The major city with the cheapest rent in the UK is Kingston upon Hull, where the average rent was £614 a month in October 2024. The next cheapest city for renters is Stoke-on-Trent, where average rent is £625 per month, followed by Bradford, at £690 a month.
| Annual change | Average rent (per month) | |
|---|---|---|
| Kingston upon Hull | +8.5% | £614 |
| Stoke-on-Trent | +8.7% | £625 |
| Bradford | +6.9% | £690 |
| Derby | +10.3% | £781 |
| Liverpool | +8.4% | £801 |
| Wolverhampton | +11.3% | £815 |
| Sheffield | +8.9% | £863 |
| Plymouth | +7.4% | £914 |
| Nottingham | +9.1% | £937 |
| Leicester | +12.5% | £947 |
| Coventry | +9.5% | £978 |
| Northampton | +8.3% | £1,005 |
| Newcastle upon Tyne | +4.6% | £1,005 |
Source: Office for National Statistics (ONS). Private rent and house prices, UK: November 2024. The ONS classifies a city as being major if it has a population of at least 200,000. Luton, Northampton and Reading are designated as towns but may feature due to having populations above 200,000. ONS does not have data for Belfast.
The UK cities with the most affordable rent (and least)
Kingston upon Hull is the major UK city where rent is most affordable in relation to average salary. On average, tenants in Kingston upon Hull spend 25.5% of their salary on rent each month. Bristol is the least affordable place to rent, with a typical tenant spending 57.1% of their monthly salary on rent.
The cheapest rent by region & country
The cheapest region to rent in the UK is the North East, with average rent costing £694 per month in October 2024. Yorkshire & the Humber has the next lowest rents at £801 per month, followed by the East Midlands at £848.
In Great Britain, Wales has the lowest average rent at £766 per month. The average rent in England is £1,348 per month, and in Scotland is £976 per month.
The very lowest rents in the UK
Away from the major cities, the place in the UK with the cheapest rent is Dumfries and Galloway in Scotland, where average rent is £484 per month. Hartlepool has the next lowest rents at £533 per month, followed by Powys in Wales at £556.
Are rents falling?
Average rents in the UK were 8.7% higher than a year earlier in October 2024, according to the Office for National Statistics. Average rents are 8.8% higher compared with a year ago in England, 7.9% higher in Wales, and 6.6% higher in Scotland.
In England, rents are rising fastest in London, where prices are 10.4% higher than a year ago. The next biggest annual increase is in the North West at 9.7%. Rents are rising slowest in Yorkshire and the Humber, at 5.9%.
The highest rents in the UK
The city with the highest rents in the UK is London, where the average monthly rent was £2,172 in October 2024. Of the major cities outside the capital, Brighton and Hove has the highest rent at £1,757 per month, followed by Bristol at £1,741 per month.
| Annual change | Average rent (per month) | |
|---|---|---|
| London | +10.4% | £2,172 |
| Brighton and Hove | +4.9% | £1,757 |
| Bristol | +3.1% | £1,741 |
| Reading | +10.8% | £1,475 |
| Lothian (Edinburgh) | +13.1% | £1,383 |
| Portsmouth | +8.6% | £1,296 |
| Manchester | +11.4% | £1,266 |
| Greater Glasgow | +0.6% | £1,193 |
| Southampton | +9.4% | £1,172 |
| Luton | +10.6% | £1,128 |
| Leeds | +4.6% | £1,100 |
| Cardiff | +9.8% | £1,062 |
| Norwich | +7.4% | £1,059 |
| Birmingham | +9.4% | £1,025 |
Source: Office for National Statistics (ONS). Private rent and house prices, UK: November 2024. The ONS classifies a city as being major if it has a population of at least 200,000. Luton, Northampton and Reading are designated as towns but may feature due to having populations above 200,000. ONS does not have data for Belfast.
The cheapest areas to rent in London
In September 2024, the cheapest rent in London was in Bexley, costing on average £1,355 per month. The next cheapest London rent was in Havering (£1,422), Hillingdon (£1,453), and Croydon (£1,454). The highest rent in London is in Kensington and Chelsea, at £3,435 per month.
| Annual change | Average rent (per month) | |
|---|---|---|
| Bexley | +8.7% | £1,377 |
| Havering | +11.0% | £1,432 |
| Croydon | +10.6% | £1,464 |
| Hillingdon | +10.1% | £1,467 |
| Sutton | +14.7% | £1,482 |
| Barking and Dagenham | +10.1% | £1,490 |
| Bromley | +8.1% | £1,575 |
| Redbridge | +10.8% | £1,591 |
| Enfield | +9.8% | £1,631 |
| Waltham Forest | +9.3% | £1,656 |
| Harrow | +10.8% | £1,657 |
| Kingston upon Thames | +7.3% | £1,697 |
Source: Office for National Statistics (ONS). Private rent and house prices, UK: November 2024.
Is it better to rent a house or buy?
Whether renting or buying is right for you will depend on your circumstances and goals. Your financial situation and how long you plan on living in a certain area are usually a couple of key factors to consider.
Renting may give you more freedom to move, and may allow you to live in an area where you cannot afford to buy. However, you might not be allowed to make changes or redecorate the home as you would like because the property isn’t yours. Renting can also take a significant chunk out of your income making it harder to save a deposit if you want to buy eventually.
On the other hand, buying a home means the money you pay into a mortgage is benefitting you, instead of going to a landlord. However, the upfront costs of buying, particularly saving a deposit if you’re a first-time buyer, tend to be higher than if you rent. You’ll need to prove to a lender you can afford a mortgage to buy too.
» MORE: See current mortgage rates
What do experts think about the rental market?
Tim Bannister, Director of Property Science at Rightmove
“While we’re seeing some signs of improvement in the market’s chronic levels of demand and supply imbalance helped by a slight increase in the number of available rental properties, affordability remains a key challenge for renters as prices continue to hit new records. Tenant competition has eased slightly from last year, but the market is still far from balanced. We are seeing some landlords choosing to exit the market with potential tax changes and stricter EPC regulations as additional factors in landlords’ decision-making. With rental supply under strain, incentivizing landlords to invest in energy-efficient upgrades or offering tax relief could help maintain rental supply and, ultimately, ease affordability pressures for tenants.”
Sarah Coles, Head of Personal Finance at Hargreaves Lansdown
“Renters are stuck in an endless cycle of rising costs. It’s forcing more to consider living somewhere smaller, in a worse area, or further from work, in order to make ends meet. Meanwhile others are considering moving back into shared accommodation. The immediate future looks tough enough, as rents continue to spiral, but what’s worse is that there’s no clear signal that this is ever going to end. Landlords are still leaving the market, and the Budget made things even worse, with a higher stamp duty surcharge loaded on top of frozen income tax thresholds, stricter legislation and higher mortgage rates.”
Emma Jones, Managing Director at Whenthebanksaysno.co.uk
“Tenants are in an impossibly difficult place right now, with average rents once again on the way up. As landlords exit the sector en masse, reduced stock levels mean rents are spiking as a result. The property market is in a vastly different place to where it was in September, when lower mortgage rates were boosting confidence and transaction levels. That confidence has now been sapped. It’s looking like a tough start to 2025 lies ahead.”
» MORE: What happened in the Autumn Budget 2024?
UK rental market forecasts
It is widely predicted that rents in the UK will continue to rise in 2025 and subsequent years. The forecasts below are from real estate advisors CBRE and JLL, and estate agents Savills.
| 2025 | 2026 | 2027 | |
| CBRE | +2.3% | +2.5% | +2.9% |
| JLL | +3.5% | +3.5% | +3.0% |
| Savills | +4.0% | +3.5% | +3.0% |
Cheapest UK Rent FAQs
In October 2024, rent was cheapest in the North East (£694 per month), Wales (£766), Yorkshire and the Humber (£801), and the East Midlands (£848). Rents in London (£2,172) and the South East (£1,336) are the most expensive.
The average rent in the UK is £1,245 per month, according to Zoopla. Across the UK, the property portal says the cost of renting has increased by 5.4% – or £63 a month – compared with a year ago.
Renting means you avoid paying the upfront costs of buying, such as a deposit, stamp duty and mortgage and legal fees. However, as a renter, you can expect to pay a tenancy deposit, rent in advance, and potentially a holding deposit. According to Halifax, the monthly cost to a first-time buyer of owning a home is £1,231, slightly lower than the £1,258 it would cost to rent an equivalent property. However, this can differ depending on where you want to live.
The average cost of renting a flat in Great Britain in October 2024 was £1,274, according to the Office for National Statistics.
Image source: Getty Images
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