The average rent for new lets has increased by £117 per month since last year, said Zoopla, reaching £1,078 a month.

Rental growth now stands at 12% a year, said the property portal, double the average earnings growth of 6%.

This rising rent is ‘exacerbated by the chronic demand and supply imbalance’ with the stock of homes for rent down 38% in comparison to the five-year average. At the same time demand is soaring – rental enquiries are 46% above the five-year average.

Single earners priced out

Rent now accounts for 35% of the average income of a single earner, the highest level in over 10 years. This is forcing many renters to look for smaller homes or consider sharing.

Rents are increasing fastest in the UK’s largest cities with rents up 17% or £273 per month in London over the past 12 months, 15.6% in Manchester and 14.1% in Glasgow.

A key trend in all these cities, according to Zoopla, is the demand/supply imbalance over the past year – underpinned by large student populations and the fact all these cities are major regional employers.

It found that rental growth is lagging in smaller cities with Hull, York, Oxford and Leicester recording slower growth of less than 8%.

Richard Donnell, executive director at Zoopla, said: “Renters are paying the price for low levels of new investment in private rented housing over the last six years. A chronic lack of supply is behind the rapid growth in rents which are increasingly unaffordable for the nation’s renters, especially single-person households and those on low incomes. Many are also staying put to avoid the worst of rent increases.

“Renters are having to adopt a range of strategies to deal with rising rents. We have seen a rapid increase in demand for 1 and 2-bed flats while some renters are now considering sharing a property to cover the cost of rent. Others may now need to stay at home with parents or relatives for longer until they can afford to rent privately.”

Sarah Coles, senior personal finance analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, added: “The rental property drought is driving rents sky high, rising at twice the rate of wage inflation, and swallowing an incredible 35% of the average single income. Landlords have been abandoning the market in droves, while tenants flock to it, leaving the rental market an arid wasteland, picked clean of properties.”