‘I worry about affording rent’

Rising rents have hit Ben McNeil hard: "I'm worried about what will happen next," he told the BBC.

The 25-year-old has already moved to a more affordable home this year but fears he may have to move again unless he can find a better-paying job.

"I was in a house of six in Bristol but it got more and more expensive so I moved with a friend to South Gloucestershire on the outskirts of the city.

"My old room is now £800 and at our new place we pay £1,200 between us, but my share is still almost half my pay."

They are yet to turn on the heating and worry what that will do to their bills, which already top £450 a month.

"We have a rent contract until May but unless we can get better-paying jobs we won't be able to afford a higher rate," Ben, a council worker, said.

The pair plan to start looking for a new place to rent by Christmas, unless their prospects improve.

The country's renters are feeling the pinch with rents hit a new high of an average £1,162 a month outside London in September.

In London rents have soared to £2,343, new data from property website Rightmove shows.

Rents in the capital have climbed 16.1% since last October while the rest of the country saw an average increase of 11%.

"It's a real challenge for renters at the moment," said Tim Bannister of Rightmove.

"There are simply not enough homes available to rent to meet the demand from people enquiring."

While there are more new rental properties available in every region, except London, demand still greatly outweighs the number of homes available to rent, he said.

Demand has climbed by 20% compared with last year, while the total number of available properties to rent is down by 9%.

That's creating ever fiercer competition between tenants looking for a home, said Tim Hassell, director at Draker Lettings in London.

"Within a few hours of a property going live, we are receiving dozens of enquiries which, when compared to the pre Covid market, is extreme.

"Previously we would receive between 5-10 enquiries in the first 48 hours and now we are receiving 30-40 in the same time frame."

Even the quoted rent is often surpassed where demand is particularly acute, said David Reed, operations director at Richmond estate agency Antony Roberts. "Proximity to transport infrastructure or within catchment area of a good school are proving to be big drivers," he said.

And with the cost-of-living crisis hitting people's purses and wallets, along with the returning popularity of city centres, studio flats have overtaken one-beds as the most in-demand flat type for renters.

There are now four times as many tenants looking for a studio flat as there are studio flats available, according to the survey.

Renters are seeking out smaller and more affordable places to live while the rise in mortgage interest rates may have encouraged some potential homebuyers to change plans and rent for longer and in a smaller place while they save up for a bigger deposit.

"Those looking to rent a smaller property in the next few months may find that they face some added competition from would-be first-time buyers, who have had their purchase plans scuppered for now due to the sudden rise in mortgage interest rates," said Mr Bannister.

Meanwhile it's not just younger renters looking to return to the city centre, said estate agent John O'Malley of Pacitti Jones in Glasgow.

"The dramatic rise in the cost of living means that we are now starting to see older people downsizing to city apartments to reduce household bills and travel expenses," he said.

Outside London, the highest annual increase was in Wales, where average rents asked rose 15.2%. However the average monthly rent in the principality is £974.

That's not the lowest average rent across the country - that can be found in the north-east at £779 a month, up 11.5% over the year.

But there's some light at the end of the tunnel, reckoned Mr Reed: "The acceleration of rental price growth is slowing as the cost-of-living increases bite into rental affordability."