Patchy regional picture for rents, says Paragon

News Category: Industry News

An uneven set of rental statistics has emerged as Paragon Advance, a provider  of products and services to the lettings industry, has released its latest statistics in relation to average rents by region for the first quarter of  2010.
 
Figures for January through to March show that the southern region easily commanded the highest average rents with £916.52 for London and the south-east, followed by the east of England with £768.48 and the south-west with £704.13.
 
The lowest average rent was Scotland with £456.36 and Wales with £514.19.
 
Paul Abbott, head of property and mortgages, said that although most regions experienced an increase compared to the first quarter of last year, some have seen falls in average rentsl. Areas that saw a decline were in the north-west with a 1.31% decrease from 2009 and the east of England with a fall of 0.59%.
 
However, all other regions have experienced an increase with the biggest rise in the south-west (4.28%), followed by Scotland (3.55%) and London and the south-east (2.19%).
 
Abbott said: “The rental market has remained buoyant for a number of reasons. The number of property transactions for completed sales in the UK is at historically low levels, due in part to average house prices and the house price to earning ratio remaining high.

“Coupled with the current difficulties in obtaining high loan-to-value borrowing, renting is often the only realistic option for a number of people.”


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