Average UK rents fell 0.3% in June when compared to last year, the second successive month in which they have dropped, according to HomeLet.

The average rent agreed on a new tenancy during June was £908, down from £910 in the same month of 2016.

London falling

The London rental market is driving the drop in rents, with a 2.6% decline in the average rent agreed on a new tenancy in the city last month.

Rents in the capital have fallen on an annual basis for three months in a row, after rising more quickly than anywhere else in the country during the first half of last year; rental price inflation in London peaked at 7.1% in June 2016.

HomeLet said that landlords are reluctant to charge higher rents in the current uncertain economic climate. While demand for private rental property remains high relative to supply, landlords continue to be conscious of affordability issues for tenants.

HomeLet’s chief executive officer, Martin Totty said: “It is now a full year since rental price inflation in the UK peaked at 4.7%, since when we’ve seen progressively more modest rent increases and, over the past two months, falls in some areas of the country.

“June’s figures are the first indication that this trend may now be beginning to flatten out, but it’s too early to say this with any certainty.”