Private rent and house prices, UK: February 2025

• Average UK private rents increased by 8.7% in the 12 months to January 2025 (provisional estimate); this is down from 9.0% in the 12 months to December 2024.

• Average rents increased to £1,375 (8.8%) in England, £780 (8.4%) in Wales and £995 (6.2%) in Scotland, in the 12 months to January 2025.

• In Northern Ireland, average rents increased by 8.3% in the 12 months to November 2024.

• In England, rents inflation was highest in London (11.0%) and lowest in Yorkshire and The Humber (5.3%), in the 12 months to January 2025.

• Average UK house prices increased by 4.6%, to £268,000, in the 12 months to December 2024 (provisional estimate); this annual growth rate is up from 3.9% in the 12 months to November 2024.

• Average house prices increased in England to £291,000 (4.3%), in Wales to £208,000 (3.0%) and in Scotland to £189,000 (6.9%), in the 12 months to December 2024.

We are developing our Northern Ireland private rent statistics and aim to use our Price Index of Private Rents (PIPR) methodology for Northern Ireland from March 2025. This will enable us to produce average rent levels for Northern Ireland and the UK, and comparisons with Great Britain. 

Average UK private rents increased by 8.7% in the 12 months to January 2025 (provisional estimate). This was down from 9.0% in the 12 months to December 2024 and was below the record-high annual rise of 9.2% in March 2024. 

UK House Price Index's (HPI) reference period has been updated from January 2015 to January 2023 to reflect the observed reduction in size of the "average" UK property sold and its increased tendency to be in a cheaper part of the UK. This has led to a 7.9% downwards shift for the "average" UK property price level series. Read more in "UK HPI re-referencing" in Section 10: Data sources and quality and in our Keeping average house prices up to date blog. 

Average UK house prices increased by 4.6% (provisional estimate), to £268,000, in the 12 months to December 2024. This annual growth was up from 3.9% in the 12 months to November 2024. Annual inflation has been generally increasing since its low point of negative 2.7% in the 12 months to December 2023. 

HM Land Registry publishes the full UK House Price Index report and monthly data. 

Our new local housing statistics tool summarises the latest private rents and house price statistics for local areas. 

Although still lower than historically, the total transaction volumes and new build volumes available to calculate UK House Price Index (HPI) estimates have increased recently. 

UK monthly rents estimates for the latest two months, and UK HPI estimates for the latest 12 months, are provisional and subject to revision. All statistics are non-seasonally adjusted estimates, unless stated otherwise.

Our Measuring the UK housing market blog post explains why changes in new-let annual inflation take time to be reflected in the Price Index of Private Rents (PIPR), which measures the price change of the entire privately rented stock.

The average house price for England was £291,000 in December 2024, up 4.3% (£12,000) from a year earlier. This annual rise was higher than in the 12 months to November 2024 (3.4%).

The average house price for Wales was £208,000 in December 2024, up 3.0% (£6,000) from a year earlier. This annual rise was lower than in the 12 months to November 2024 (3.7%).

The average house price for Scotland was £189,000 in December 2024, up 6.9% (£12,000) from a year earlier. This annual rise was higher than in the 12 months to November 2024 (5.9%).

The average house price for Northern Ireland was £183,000 in Quarter 4 (Oct to Dec) 2024, up 9.0% (£15,000) from Quarter 4 a year earlier.

The North East was the English region with the highest house price inflation in the 12 months to December 2024, at 6.7%. This was up from 6.4% in the 12 months to November 2024.

Annual house price inflation was lowest in London, at 0.0% in the 12 months to December 2024. This was down from 0.5% in the 12 months to November 2024.

The average private rent in Great Britain was £1,332 per month in January 2025. This is £106 (8.7%) higher than 12 months previously.

England

Average rent for England was £1,375 in January 2025, up 8.8% (£112) from a year earlier. This annual rise was lower than in the 12 months to December 2024 (9.2%) and below the record-high annual growth in the 12 months to November 2024 (9.3%).

Wales

Average rent for Wales was £780 in January 2025, up 8.4% (£61) from a year earlier. This annual rise was lower than in the 12 months to December 2024 (8.5%) and below the record-high annual rise of 9.8% in November 2023.

Scotland

Average rent for Scotland was £995 in January 2025, up 6.2% (£58) from a year earlier. This annual rise was lower than in the 12 months to December 2024 (6.9%). Scotland's annual inflation rate has been generally slowing since the record-high annual rise of 11.8% in August 2023.

Because of data collection limitations, Scotland rents data, which are used in the Price Index of Private Rents (PIPR) stock measure, are mainly for advertised new lets. These advertised new lets were not subject to Scotland's in-tenancy price-increase cap and are not subject to temporary changes to the Rent Adjudication system, as described in the Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) Scotland Bill and the Scottish Government's Cost of living: rent and eviction page, respectively. We advise users to bear this in mind when interpreting estimates for Scotland and comparing with other UK countries (see Section 10: Data sources and quality).

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland data are currently available up to November 2024. Average rent in Northern Ireland increased by 8.3% in the 12 months to November 2024. This was lower than in the 12 months to October 2024 (8.6%). Northern Ireland's annual inflation rate has been generally slowing since the record-high annual rise of 10.4% in February 2024.

London was the English region with the highest rents inflation in the 12 months to January 2025, at 11.0%. This annual rise was lower than in the 12 months to December 2024 (11.5%) and below the record-high annual growth in the 12 months to November 2024 (11.6%).

Rents annual inflation was lowest in Yorkshire and The Humber, at 5.3% in January 2025. This annual rise was lower than in the 12 months to December 2024 (5.4%).

Average rent was highest in London (£2,227) and lowest in the North East (£710) in January 2025.

Figure 6: Privately renting a property is most expensive in London

Average private rent, English regions, January 2015 to January 2025

Average monthly private rents vary across local authorities in England and Wales, and broad rental market areas in Scotland.

Average rent was highest in Kensington and Chelsea, London (£3,615) and lowest in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland (£513), in January 2025. Excluding London, the local area with the highest average rent in January 2025 was Elmbridge, South East (£1,876).

Figure 7: Average rent was more than seven times higher in the most expensive local area than in the least expensive

Average private rent and annual inflation, local authorities in England and Wales and Broad Rental Market Areas in Scotland, January 2015 to January 2025

Notes

1. Values of [x] in this tool represent data which are not available. 

The average private rent was highest for detached properties (£1,530) and lowest for flats and maisonettes (£1,302) for Great Britain in January 2025. Average private rent was highest for properties with four or more bedrooms (£2,020) and lowest for properties with one bedroom (£1,072).

Figure 8: Private rent increases with property size

Average private rent, local authorities in England and Wales and broad rental market areas in Scotland, January 2025

Administrative data

Data that are already collected for other purposes through day-to-day activities. Examples include health records or social security payments.

Annual percentage change

The rate at which prices rise and fall over a 12-month period. Interchangeable with "annual inflation" (or "annual growth", if positive).

Non-seasonally adjusted

A non-seasonally adjusted series is one that includes seasonal effects.

Price inflation

Inflation is the rate at which prices rise and fall over time.

The Price Index of Private Rents (PIPR) is released as official statistics in development and is subject to revisions if methodology improvements are identified. Read more in our Guide to official statistics in development.

UK House Price Index

HM Land Registry (HMLR) publishes the full UK House Price Index (HPI) report and monthly data. Additionally, the Registers of Scotland publishes UK HPI reports and Land and Property Services Northern Ireland publishes Northern Ireland HPI reports.

UK HPI's revisions policy is explained in Section 4 of HMLR's About the UK House Price Index guidance.

Total transaction volumes and new build volumes available to calculate UK HPI estimates have increased recently. HMLR have processed over 40% of HM Revenue and Customs' (HMRC's) provisional sales estimate for UK HPI's first estimate in recent months, though transaction volumes for older periods and new build volumes remain lower than historical averages. Users should be aware that revisions may be larger than historically and should note the greater uncertainty around new build prices. Further information is available in HMLR's UK House Price Index summary.

UK HPI re-referencing

In our February 2025 release, UK HPI's reference period was updated from January 2015 to January 2023, so UK HPI indices now report January 2023 = 100. Re-referencing ensures the UK HPI reflects the price of the "average" property currently being sold and shifts the entire price level series for each geography and breakdown by a constant percentage. Inflation rates are unaffected by re-referencing, as explained in "Section 3: Methods used to produce the UK HPI" in HMLR's Quality and methodology guidance.

The UK HPI has been re-referenced to reflect the observed reduction in size of the "average" UK property sold and its increased tendency to be in a cheaper part of the UK. UK HPI weights show that between 2015 and 2023, UK sales of smaller properties proportionately increased (for example, there were proportionately more sales of flats than detached properties) and sales in more expensive parts of the UK proportionately decreased (for example, there were proportionately more sales in Scotland than in London). This has led to a 7.9% downwards shift for the "average" UK property price level. More information is in our Keeping average house prices up to date blog.

Price Index of Private Rents

PIPR's statistics are monthly from January 2015 onwards, and use January 2023 as the base period for indexing.

Our Price Index of Private Rents, UK: historical series dataset links pre-2015 Index of Private Housing Rental Prices (IPHRP) trends with PIPR trends from 2015 onwards, down to a regional level. We advise caution when comparing pre-2015 trends with later estimates because of the methodology change in January 2015.

Extending the PIPR data time series back further from January 2015 was not feasible because of lower data volumes and address quality in earlier periods for Great Britain, and the unavailability of rents data for Northern Ireland (and therefore the UK).

Spotlight on quality assessment of the Price Index of Private Rents

We recently requested a quality-focused assessment of the PIPR by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). This request was the first step towards achieving accredited official statistics status, with plans to incorporate Northern Ireland into PIPR from March 2025. The OSR published their Spotlight on Quality Assessment: Price Index of Private Rents (PIPR) report in October 2024 and we announced how we intend to address OSR's requirements in our Private rental prices development plan, UK: updated January 2025.

Sources for Price Index of Private Rents

The PIPR and IPHRP use the same rents data. The PIPR also uses property attributes data. More detail is in our Quality assurance of administrative data used in the PIPR methodolody.

Data collection for Price Index of Private Rents

In England and Wales, achieved rents data are collected for both new and existing tenancies. Data collection volumes for Brent increased sharply in 2024. As rent prices have risen rapidly since 2023, our estimated average rent for Brent increased sharply in 2024.

In Northern Ireland, rents data are for newly advertised lets.

Scotland rents data are predominantly for advertised new lets, with only a small proportion based on existing lets data. Therefore, price changes for existing tenancies are largely estimated for Scotland.

The Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) Scotland Bill capped in-tenancy rent price increases at 0% (and up to 3% in certain circumstances) from September 2022 until 31 March 2023. The Scottish Government website reports that between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024, this rent price-increase cap was 3% (and up to 6% in certain circumstances). From 1 April 2024, temporary changes to the rent adjudication system restricts rent increases for existing tenants who apply for rent adjudication, as shown in the Scottish Government's Cost of living: rent and eviction guidance.

These caps and restrictions will not be reflected in the price of new lets used to estimate the price of existing tenancies. Scottish Government statisticians believe that the lack of data on existing tenants benefitting from rent controls, and changes to the Rent Adjudication system, will lead to overestimation in stock prices and indices for Scotland since late 2022.

Revision Policy for Price Index of Private Rents

Northern Ireland rents data are not available for the latest two months. To produce provisional UK statistics, Great Britain's inflation rate for the latest two months has been used to estimate Northern Ireland's inflation rate in this period.

Each subsequent month, updated Northern Ireland data are used to revise estimates for the UK, providing a two-month revision period for the UK series in PIPR.

Strengths and limitations

Strengths

The PIPR reflects price changes for all privately rented properties, including existing tenancies and newly advertised lets.

PIPR produces prices that are comparable over time and publishes to an increased level of geographic granularity.

Limitations

While mitigation efforts are made, price changes at local levels can be influenced by the type and number of properties collected in any given period, which may lead to volatility. Longer-term trends should be considered for lower-level geographic breakdowns, rather than monthly movements.

Estimates for the City of London and Isles of Scilly are not published because of low collection volumes.

Because of differences in data collection and housing policy, caution is advised when comparing Scotland's estimates with other areas in England and Wales, and within Scotland. More information is available in our PIPR Quality and Methodology Information (QMI).

Future developments

We aim to implement the PIPR methodology for Northern Ireland in our private rental price statistics and consumer price statistics in March 2025.

Contact us at hpi@ons.gov.uk.