Private rents in the UK rose 3.8% in the 12 months to August 2026, and the average rent was £1,400 a month
Average monthly rent (£, not adjusted for inflation) and change in private rents on a year earlier (per cent), all property types, UK, England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, monthly, 2015 to 2026.
Latest figures
| Series | Period | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Average monthly rent: United Kingdom | August 2026 | £1,400 |
| Average monthly rent: England | August 2026 | £1,459 |
| Average monthly rent: Wales | August 2026 | £846 |
| Average monthly rent: Scotland | August 2026 | £1,013 |
| Average monthly rent: Northern Ireland | June 2026 | £874 |
| Change in private rents on a year earlier: United Kingdom | August 2026 | 3.8% |
| Change in private rents on a year earlier: England | August 2026 | 4.0% |
| Change in private rents on a year earlier: Wales | August 2026 | 4.3% |
| Change in private rents on a year earlier: Scotland | August 2026 | 1.1% |
| Change in private rents on a year earlier: Northern Ireland | June 2026 | 1.6% |
Notes
- The Price Index of Private Rents (PIPR) measures the rents paid by private tenants, for new and existing tenancies. It is built from administrative data on rents (collected for other purposes, not a survey), and is not seasonally adjusted. The ONS publishes it as official statistics in development.
- PIPR replaced the Index of Private Housing Rental Prices (IPHRP). PIPR figures start in January 2015, so the change on a year earlier starts in January 2016. The ONS publishes a separate historical series that joins IPHRP to PIPR, and advises caution when comparing trends before 2015 with later ones because the method changed; it isn't shown here.
- The average rent is the average monthly rent for all property types, in pounds at the time (not adjusted for inflation), rounded by the ONS to the nearest £1.
- Northern Ireland figures end in June 2026: its rents data arrive later than the rest of the UK's. For the months after that, the ONS estimates Northern Ireland's rents from its recent monthly changes to produce the UK figures.
- Scotland's figures are mainly for advertised new lets, so they don't reflect the limits on rent increases within existing tenancies that applied in Scotland between September 2022 and March 2025. The ONS advises bearing this in mind when comparing Scotland with the rest of the UK.
- Each release can revise earlier months.
Sources
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