Rightmove says rent prices jump as tenants look for affordable homes

According to Rightmove, the demand among tenants has jumped for properties where all bills are included in the rent.

In the first three months of the year, the average monthly rent advertised across Britain excluding London was a record 1,088. Rightmove said that was an annual increase of 11%.

The market is highly competitive because there are more than triple the number of tenants inquiring as there are rental properties available, according to the website.

Nearly two-thirds of the majority of landlords told Rightmove that they have kept their rents the same for their tenants over the past year, with the remaining 37% saying they have increased their rents.

Rightmove's director of property data, Tim Bannister, said that a shortage of rental homes and strong demand for the properties available has resulted in a greater number of tenants choosing to stay put rather than enter a competitive rental market.

People who were waiting to see what happened last year are now facing record rents and are looking for out properties where they can have more certainty over their outgoings, with bills including becoming increasingly sought after.

Landlords may have been tempted to put their rents up because of the high demand from new tenants, but we know the affordability challenges of rising rents and bills, as our study shows that the majority of their tenants are charging the same as a year ago. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors Rics said earlier in the week that 63% of property professionals expect rents to go up in the next three months, the highest proportion since its records began in 1999.