Wakefield, Coventry, Brighton, Nottingham and Greater London top the list of hotspots where tenants new to the area account for the largest proportion of new tenancies signed, according to data from HomeLet.

HomeLet’s Rental Index Regional Variance Figures show the number of new tenancies from people moving to an area. In Wakefield and Coventry, for example, more than a quarter of tenancies signed over the past 12 months were taken on by people moving to these cities.

Tenant movement into Greater London has risen since the recession began, with 18% of new tenancies in the capital in the last year taken on by people moving from other regions, compared to 11% in the year to June 2008.

The average rent on a new tenancy now stands at £1,515 per month in London, for the three months to June 2015, 10.1% higher than a year ago.

The average rent in the UK for new tenancies in the three months to June 2015 was £956 per month, with increases in every region of the UK compared to 2014 (£747 excluding Greater London).
 
London showed the greatest increase in average monthly rent prices since the recession began in 2007/2008 (51% increase), followed by Brighton (25%) and Coventry (21%).

These are not necessarily the locations registering the largest quantity of incomers by number; however, they are the cities to which more people are moving as a proportion of new tenancies signed.

The index also reveals the UK cities in which tenants are most likely to choose to stay, by analysing the proportion of tenancies being signed by people who have previously lived elsewhere in the same city. It shows that Belfast, Cardiff and Birmingham, for example, are all popular with people who live there – more than 95% of tenancies in each of these locations were taken on by someone already resident in the area.

Martin Totty, chief executive officer or HomeLet’s parent company Barbon Insurance Group, said: “The HomeLet Rental Index paints a fascinating picture: it reveals several hotspots around the country that are attracting and retaining tenants. For example, with its proximity to the burgeoning local economy of Leeds, Wakefield is an attractive and affordable location for tenants to move to. Meanwhile, cities such as Birmingham and Bristol appear to be ‘must stay’ locations, with tenants increasingly choosing to settle and stay in these cities, and continuing to choose to privately rent property in order to do so.

“While the London rental market continues to be popular, with the capital inevitably drawing in large numbers of people, it’s not the only part of the country attracting incomers, with tenants also choosing cities such as Nottingham, Brighton and Coventry.”

The HomeLet Rental Index figures for June 2015 show that rent prices across the majority of the UK are rising. The average rent price across the UK (excluding London) now stands at £747 per month for the three months to June 2015, an increase of 7.8% against the same period last year, when the average UK (excluding London) rent was £692 per month.

London rent prices are more than double the average for the rent of the UK (£1,515 per month compared to £747 for the rest of the UK).