Property News
UK rents in 2026: 3.8% growth, fewer homes to let and what agents should do
29 October 2026 · 3 min read
Rents are still rising faster than house prices, and the supply of homes to let is still tight. Here is what the latest official figures show, and what they mean for a lettings business.
Rents: up 3.8% in a year. The ONS Price Index of Private Rents puts the average UK private rent at £1,406 a month in September 2026, 3.8% higher than a year earlier, the same annual rate as August. In England the average is £1,466, up 4.0%, or £56 a month more than a year ago. These are provisional and will be revised over the next two months, as the ONS always does.
“When rental stock is short, the landlord is the scarce side of the market, and the agency that looks after landlords well is the one that keeps the stock.”
Growth has slowed from the peaks of 2023 and 2024, when annual rent rises ran well above 8%, but it is still more than four times the rate at which house prices are rising.
Supply: still the problem. Fewer rented homes are being re-let and more are being sold. Data from TwentyCi shows the share of homes coming to the sales market that had previously been rented fell sharply over the past year, and rental listing volumes are lower across every UK region. Surveys of landlords, including Goodlord's, have found around a quarter considering selling part or all of their portfolio. Not every survey turns into sales, and the evidence that the Renters' Rights Act alone is driving this is not yet clear: mortgage costs, tax and energy-efficiency rules all play a part.
What it means for a letting agency. When stock is short, the landlord is the scarce side of the market. Tenants are not hard to find; good landlords are. Three things follow.
Keep the landlords you have. A landlord who leaves is rarely leaving the agent, they are leaving the sector, often because compliance has become a worry. An agency that can show every certificate in date, every deposit protected and every repair handled, without being asked, takes that worry away. Landlord statements that arrive on time and a clear record of what was spent on their property do the same.
Talk to landlords who are thinking of selling before they decide. A landlord who sells is a sales instruction. If your lettings and sales records are in the same system, the landlord who mentions it is already a vendor contact, with the property, its history and its value in front of you.
Win new landlords where they are looking. A landlord deciding whether to self-manage or use an agent will often start by checking what their property would let for. A rental valuation on your website, with your branding on it, turns that search into an enquiry.
Get rent increases right. Under the Renters' Rights Act, rent can only go up once a year, by section 13 notice, with at least two months' notice. With rents still rising, most landlords will want a review, and a notice served wrongly is a notice that can be challenged.
Sources: ONS, Private rent and house prices, UK: October 2026, covering rents to September 2026. TwentyCi and Goodlord market data as reported in 2026.