Spiralling rents hit new record high | Money | guardian.co.uk

Spiralling rents hit new record high | Money | guardian.co.uk

Tenants suffered again in May 2011 as the average rent in England and Wales hit a new record high of £695, a 0.5% rise on April, fuelling increasing incidents of "rental gazumping", according to the latest LSL Property Services buy-to-let index.

During the month, rents increased the fastest in the east of England (1.4%) and the north-east (1.1%), and declined in only three regions: the West Midlands (-0.7%), the south-west (-0.6%) and Wales (-0.2%).

This takes the annual rise in rent to 4.4% – below the headline rate of inflation in the UK. Annually, rents rose the fastest in London, increasing by 7.8% during the last 12 months, followed by the north-east and the east Midlands, where rents increased by a respective 6.4% and 6.2%. During the last year, average rents only fell in the south-west ....