British rents skyrocketing

Private rental prices paid by tenants in the UK have jumped by 5.3% in the 12 months leading up to July, marking the largest annual percentage change since records began in 2016, data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has shown.

The figure was up from 5.2% in the previous month, with costs consistently increasing over the past two years.

According to the ONS, annual private rental prices surged by 5.2% in England, 6.5% in Wales, and 5.7% in Scotland.

Within England, the highest annual percentage change in private rental prices was in the West Midlands, Yorkshire and the Humber, and London, at 5.5%, while the North East saw the lowest increase at 4.6%.

The ONS figures also showed house price growth slowing, rising 1.7% in the 12 months to June, down from a 1.8% increase in May and well below the peak of 14% in July last year.

According to the report, the average house price in the UK was £288,000 ($368,000) in June. Average house prices increased over the year by 1.9% to $391,000 in England, by 0.6% to $272,000 in Wales, and by 2.7% to $222,000 in Northern Ireland. House prices in Scotland stayed practically unchanged, at an average of $241,000.

“Annual house price inflation, measured using final transaction prices, slowed again in June, but the fall was gentler than we have seen in previous months,” said the head of housing market indices at the ONS Aimee North.

The British housing market saw mortgage rates hitting a 15-year high last month due to a series of interest-rate hikes by the Bank of England to curb inflation, which has sent demand plummeting.

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