The average advertised rent of homes coming onto the market outside of London fell in Q4 by 1.1% (-£15) say Rightmove in its latest index. It’s only the second quarter in the last five years where rents have fallen, with the average advertised rent now standing at £1,370 per calendar month. The latest data means that at the end of 2025, average rents outside of London were 2.2% (+£29) higher than in 2024. This is the lowest that annual rental growth has been at the end of a year since 2018.
The total number of available homes to rent is currently 9% higher than last year. However, looking longer term, the number of available rental properties has dropped by a third (-33%) compared with ten years ago, illustrating the chronic shortage of rental property.
There are some positive indicators for the future supply of rental homes. The latest available snapshot of UK Finance data, which tracks both remortages and new buy-to-let mortgages, suggests that the rate of rental investment activity is the most positive it’s been since 2022. The number of new buy-to-let mortgages taken out to purchase rental homes in the year to October was 13% in 2025 versus the same period in 2024, while the number of remortgages increased by 23%. It’s a positive sign that there is both new investment, and landlords choosing to keep existing rental homes.
In terms of buying activity, the competition between tenants for rental homes has cooled and is less fierce than the pandemic years. 2025’s average of ten enquiries for every available rental home is higher than the pre-pandemic 2019 average of six, but lower than 2024’s figure of fourteen.
