According to LSL property Services buy-to-let index, rents came past the previous record high of £705 hit in July.
“We are in the thick of the busiest time of year for the rental market, and red-hot demand for properties is driving rents up at their fastest monthly pace in the last 12 months,” said David Brown, commercial director of LSL Property Services.
“Recent graduates moving for their first jobs have further exaggerated the long-term and growing demand from frustrated buyers.”
He added that in the last two years average rents have risen by more than £50 a month and are likely to keep increasing for a while.
The survey suggested that London had seen the biggest rent rises in England and Wales in the last year, rising by 6.6%, followed by a 6% rise in the West Midlands and a 4.3% increase in the North East of England.
The only fall was in Yorkshire and the Humber, where the cost of renting a home dropped by 0.5% in the last year, it suggested.
Tenant arrears increased for the first time since April, with 10.7% of all UK rent unpaid or late by the end of August. This was up from the 9% of rent unpaid or late in July.
However, Paul Jardine, director of chartered surveyors and receivers Templeton LPA, said there was often a short-term blip in tenant arrears in August, as summer holiday costs squeezed family finances.
“The surge in arrears has been largely down to the holiday season. Many returning holidaymakers find themselves hard-pressed after holiday spending in August, and encounter a greater difficulty in meeting their monthly rent cheque. We expect arrears to fall back in the short-term after tenants have had time to put their finances back in order.”
He added: “Tenant arrears have performed better than expected in the past year, but landlords must remain vigilant to prevent being caught unawares by mounting rental arrears as the planned public sector job losses kick in.”
