The biggest rent price shifts since last Christmas

Leading lettings management platform, Howsy, has looked at where across the nation makes the rental naughty and nice lists since last Christmas, based on the growth in rental costs over the last 12 months.

Using data from the ONS, Howsy has highlighted the top 15 locations to have seen the biggest increases and decreases in the average rental price since last Christmas.

Nationally

Depending on whether you’re a tenant or a landlord, the naughty and nice lists will differ between rental growth and decline but across the nation as a whole, the cost of renting as edged up 0.9% in the last 12 months.

The largest increase has been in Yorkshire and the Humber with a 5.1% jump, while the North East is the only region to have seen a decline at -1.1%.

Where else has dropped?

Looking locally, tenants in Corby will be full of Christmas cheer with the average cost of renting down -10.5% in the last 12 months, the biggest drop across England. Elmbridge in Surrey has also seen the cost of renting drop by double-digits, down -10%.

Windsor and Maidenhead, Wycombe and Bath and North East Somerset also make the top ten biggest rental declines. At -7.2%, Richmond has seen the largest drop in rental values in London, with Tandridge, Stroud, Rushcliffe and Poole also amongst some of the largest drops.

Where has increased?

It’s not all festive cheer for tenants this Christmas though, particularly those in Exeter, with the average rental cost up 28.7% in the last 12 months. Norwich and Newcastle under Lyme have also seen rental prices jump by more than 20% at 21.1% and 20.5% respectively.

Camden has seen the largest increase in the capital, up 18.8%, along with South Oxfordshire at 16%. The City of London, Westminster, York, Hounslow and Mendip have all seen the average cost of renting increase by more than 10% this year.

Founder and CEO of Howsy, Calum Brannan, commented:

“The change in the cost of renting on a regional basis in the last 12 months alone highlights how diverse the rental market is and how fluctuations in stock levels and tenant demand can make a big difference between one area and the next.

Nationally, rents have increased, for the most part, but it’s not all bad news and while some tenants will be feeling the pinch more so this Christmas, others will be enjoying a reduction in the cost of renting.

With a number of legislative changes introduced this year, the rental sector should become a better, more transparent place for tenants and landlords alike as we head into a new decade and this is something we can all look forward to regardless of the change in rental costs.”

Lowest Rental Growth Nationally and by Region
Location
Rental change growth % (2018-2019)
England
0.9%
North East
-1.1%
London
1.1%
East of England
1.2%
South East
1.4%
East Midlands
1.9%
South West
2.5%
North West
2.6%
West Midlands
3.0%
Yorkshire and the Humber
5.1%
Lowest Rental Growth by Area
Location
Rental change growth % (2018-2019)
Corby
-10.5%
Elmbridge
-10.0%
Windsor and Maidenhead
-9.4%
Wycombe
-8.7%
Bath and North East Somerset
-7.3%
Richmond upon Thames
-7.2%
Tandridge
-7.0%
Stroud
-6.7%
Rushcliffe
-6.2%
Poole
-5.9%
Wealden
-5.7%
Newcastle upon Tyne
-5.5%
Brighton and Hove
-4.9%
Ealing
-4.5%
Middlesbrough
-4.3%
Highest Rental Growth by Area
Location
Rental change growth % (2018-2019)
Exeter
28.7%
Norwich
21.1%
Newcastle-under-Lyme
20.5%
Camden
19.8%
South Oxfordshire
16.0%
City of London
11.7%
Westminster
11.4%
York
11.3%
Hounslow
10.5%
Mendip
10.1%
Broadland
8.6%
Wirral
8.5%
Chiltern
8.2%
Canterbury
8.1%
Sedgemoor
8.1%

Properganda PR

National and local media coverage for property businesses. Journo quotes delivered in minutes.

You May Also Enjoy

Breaking News

Breaking Property News 7/5/26

Daily bite-sized proptech and property news in partnership with Proptech-X.   The Hidden Economics of AI Agents: Why Businesses May Spend More Than They Ever Did on SaaS AI agents are rapidly being positioned as the next evolution of enterprise software. The problem is that many companies are still evaluating them through a SaaS lens…
Read More
Estate Agent Talk

£15m property market accounts for 0.04% of all homes

The latest analysis from AgentWise has found that while more than 30,000 homes are currently for sale across Great Britain with an asking price between £1m and £5m, properties priced above £1m account for just 6% of all available housing stock, with the market becoming dramatically smaller and increasingly relationship-led as values rise. With so…
Read More
Home and Living

Beware of the underinsurance risk created by property alterations

Property owners are being warned that while alterations may well improve a building, they can also change its rebuild cost. Where works materially affect a building’s size, layout, specification or services, the amount it is insured for may need to be reviewed, as a matter of urgency, according to experts at RebuildCostASSESSMENT.com “It’s a common…
Read More
Breaking News

One in four prospective sellers pull plans to move

The latest research by GetAgent has revealed that a proportion of home sellers are rethinking their plans in 2026, with almost a quarter (24%) no longer intending to sell in the near future, while a further 27% say they still plan to move but are far less certain than they were at the start of…
Read More
Rightmove logo
Breaking News

Rightmove launches new marketing campaign to help movers see what’s possible

Rightmove, the UK’s largest property platform, is launching a new brand campaign designed to support agents by driving confident, better-informed home-movers to their properties.   Launching on 8th May, the multi-channel campaign targets all home-movers. It aims to inspire confidence to make their move, helping them to better understand what they can afford, using Rightmove’s…
Read More
Breaking News

Rural housing markets in full bloom

Rural housing markets in full bloom with price growth of up to 9.6% Countryside locations outperforming urban areas and the overall national average   As the country basks in spring sunshine, it comes as no surprise that new research from Yopa has revealed rural housing markets are enjoying hotter market conditions than their urban counterparts, with…
Read More