Renters in these areas pay an average monthly rent of £510 compared to the national average of £718 per month. Tenants in London pay almost double the UK average with an average monthly rent of £1,422.
Londoners also experienced the biggest increase in monthly rental payments in cash terms, with an average rise of £57 a month in 2014. Nationally tenants saw rents increase by an average of 1.5% (£11) from £707 a month in the first half of 2014 to £718 in the second half of the year.
Despite rent increases, average gross rental yields fell slightly from 5.5% in the first half of 2014 to 5.3% in the second half of the year.
Despite lower rents, the highest rental yields are found in the north of the UK: North (6.8%), North West (6.4%), Northern Ireland (6.4%), Scotland (6.3%), and Yorkshire and the Humber (6.1%). The lowest rental yields were found in London (4.7%), followed by the South West (4.9%) and the South East (5%).
BM Solutions found the average deposit put down by buy-to-let investors in the second half of 2014 was £51,344. In London, buy-to-let investors put down an average of £120,241 – more than four times the average deposit in the North (£26,241).
Phil Rickards, head of BM Solutions, said: “Demand for private rental accommodation remains strong, which continues to push rental prices up. However our figures show that even with increasing rental prices, the average yield investors receive has eased, driven by the increase in prices for buy-to-let properties.”
