Rents have risen 8.7% in the year to March, according to HomeLet.

The landlord insurance supplier said that the average rental price for a new tenancy in the UK was £1,078 a month.

In London, rents are up by 11.6% over the last year to £1,770 a month, and in the rest of the UK (excluding London) rents average £910 a month.

Wales is the only region to see rents fall between February and March, with a 0.1% dip to £726. At the other end of the spectrum, Scotland saw the highest annual increase – up to £770, a 12.9% rise since March 2021.

Andy Halstead, HomeLet & Let Alliance chief executive officer, said: “As predicted in recent Rental Index commentary, demand will continue to outstrip supply, and when that is the case, rent prices will surely continue to grow. The March figures are a perfect example of this, with the average rental price for the UK rising almost an entire percentage point in the space of a single month.

“Issues surrounding the cost of living and energy prices have been widely reported in recent weeks, and it will be in absolutely no one’s interest if a lack of supply means that rental properties continue to be so hard to come by for consumers. The country is reliant on a strong rental market, a fact that was underlined again and again throughout the peak of the pandemic.”