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 £619 a month in November 2024. The next cheapest city for renters is Stoke-on-Trent, at £635 per month, followed by Bradford, at £692 a month.
| Annual change | Average rent (per month) | |
|---|---|---|
| Kingston upon Hull | +9.0% | £619 |
| Stoke-on-Trent | +9.6% | £635 |
| Bradford | +6.8% | £692 |
| Derby | +10.6% | £793 |
| Liverpool | +9.1% | £810 |
| Wolverhampton | +11.0% | £818 |
| Sheffield | +8.0% | £868 |
| Plymouth | +7.7% | £922 |
| Nottingham | +8.7% | £940 |
| Leicester | +12.0% | £958 |
| Coventry | +9.1% | £981 |
| Northampton | +8.4% | £1,011 |
| Newcastle upon Tyne | +5.1% | £1,013 |
Source: Office for National Statistics (ONS). Private rent and house prices, UK: December 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)
Bradford is the major UK city where rent is most affordable in relation to average salary. On average, tenants in Bradford spend 25.6% of their salary on rent each month. Bristol is the least affordable place to rent, with a typical tenant spending 57.2% of their monthly salary on rent.
The cheapest rent by region & country
The cheapest region to rent in the UK is the North East, where the average rent cost £700 per month in November 2024. Yorkshire & the Humber has the next lowest rents at £804 per month, followed by the East Midlands at £852.
In Great Britain, Wales has the lowest average rent at £772 per month. The average rent in England is £1,362 per month, and in Scotland it is £980 per month.
The very lowest rents in the UK
The place in the UK with the cheapest rent away from the major cities is Dumfries and Galloway in Scotland, where average rent is £485 per month. Hartlepool has the next lowest rents at £534 per month, followed by Powys in Wales at £557.
Are rents falling?
Average rents in the UK were 9.1% higher than a year earlier in November 2024, according to the Office for National Statistics. This compares with a year-on-year increase of 8.7% seen in October. In England, rents are 9.3% higher compared with a year ago, in Wales they are 8.0% higher, and in Scotland they are 6.5% higher.
In England, rents are rising fastest in London, 11.6% higher than a year ago. The next biggest annual increase is in the North West at 10.7%. Rents are rising slowest in Yorkshire & the Humber, at 5.7%.
The highest rents in the UK
The city with the highest rents in the UK is London, where the average monthly rent was £2,206 in November 2024. Of the major cities outside the capital, Brighton and Hove has the highest rent at £1,766 per month, followed by Bristol at £1,748 per month.
| Annual change | Average rent (per month) | |
|---|---|---|
| London | +11.6% | £2,206 |
| Brighton and Hove | +5.1% | £1,766 |
| Bristol | +3.1% | £1,748 |
| Reading | +11.0% | £1,493 |
| Lothian (Edinburgh) | +12.4% | £1,389 |
| Portsmouth | +7.8% | £1,303 |
| Manchester | +11.4% | £1,279 |
| Greater Glasgow | +0.2% | £1,196 |
| Southampton | +9.1% | £1,179 |
| Luton | +11.0% | £1,140 |
| Leeds | +3.7% | £1,100 |
| Norwich | +8.1% | £1,075 |
| Cardiff | +8.9% | £1,070 |
| Birmingham | +8.7% | £1,029 |
Source: Office for National Statistics (ONS). Private rent and house prices, UK: December 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
London is the city with the highest average rent in the UK. However, there are significant differences between rents depending on where in the capital you live.
In November 2024, the cheapest rent in London was in Bexley, costing on average £1,395 per month. The next cheapest London rent was in Havering (£1,441), Croydon (£1,472), and Hillingdon (£1,482). The highest rent in London is in Kensington and Chelsea, at £3,520 per month.
| Annual change | Average rent (per month) | |
|---|---|---|
| Bexley | +9.9% | £1,395 |
| Havering | +11.0% | £1,441 |
| Croydon | +10.1% | £1,472 |
| Hillingdon | +10.3% | £1,482 |
| Sutton | +14.9% | £1,490 |
| Barking and Dagenham | +10.1% | £1,501 |
| Bromley | +7.7% | £1,585 |
| Redbridge | +11.4% | £1,612 |
| Enfield | +9.7% | £1,643 |
| Harrow | +10.6% | £1,673 |
| Waltham Forest | +9.7% | £1,673 |
| Kingston upon Thames | +7.1% | £1,711 |
Source: Office for National Statistics (ONS). Private rent and house prices, UK: December 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?
Andrew Montlake, Managing Director at Coreco
“You have to feel for the UK’s tenants as rents are rising at an astronomical and unsustainable rate. In many cases, landlords have no choice but to increase rents as they are in an impossible position as a result of higher mortgage rates and an ever more punitive tax regime. House prices continued to rise in the 12 months to October, likely fuelled by the cheaper mortgage rates we had over the summer. But now, with inflation rising again and the economy contracting, all bets are off. Worse still, the full impact of the Budget has yet to be felt. The stamp duty deadline may support demand during the first three months of 2025 but after that, who knows?”
Emma Jones, Managing Director at Whenthebanksaysno.co.uk
“Tenants are in an extremely tough place and have been for a long time. The challenge of saving for a deposit to get on the ladder while paying sky-high rents is phenomenal. In London, affordability is almost non-existent, data revealed a week or two ago. With interest rates far higher than what they were a few years ago, affordability is also an ever-present issue for prospective borrowers. The first quarter of 2025 may be busy as people try to beat the stamp duty deadline but all eyes are now on the Bank of England to see when the cuts that the economy and households need finally come.”
Sarah Coles, Head of Personal Finance at Hargreaves Lansdown
“It’s incredibly difficult to see when this rapid rise in rents will come to an end. While the latest RICS survey showed tenant demand relatively flat, the number of properties available continued to fall, so rents will keep rising. The soaring cost of rent is why private renters spend 39% of their monthly budget keeping a roof above their head – compared to those with mortgages who spend 19%. On average, they have just £79 left at the end of the month. It means saving for a deposit is as difficult as it is essential if people are to escape the vicious rental cycle. They need all the help they can get, whether that’s from family helping out or taking advantage of free money from the government through a Lifetime ISA.”
» 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 November 2024, rent was cheapest in the North East at £700 per month. The next cheapest rent in the UK was in Wales (£772), Yorkshire and the Humber (£804), and the East Midlands (£852). Rents in London (£2,206) and the South East (£1,346) are the most expensive.
The average cost of rent in the UK is £1,270 per month, according to Zoopla. Across the UK, it means average rents are 3.9% higher than 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 November 2024 was £1,288, according to the Office for National Statistics.
Image source: Getty Images
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