UK rental growth slowed sharply at the end of 2025, with advertised rents falling in the final quarter of the year, according to new analysis from Rightmove.
However, the property portal warns that a chronic shortage of rental homes will continue to push rents higher through 2026.
Outside London, the average advertised rent for new listings fell by 1.1% in the fourth quarter, a drop of £15, taking the national average to £1,370 per calendar month. It marked only the second quarterly fall in rents over the past five years. Despite this late-year easing, rents outside the capital still ended 2025 2.2% higher than a year earlier, an annual increase of £29 and the weakest end-of-year growth recorded since 2018.
A similar pattern emerged in London. Average advertised rents in the capital slipped by 0.7% (£20) in the final quarter, bringing the average monthly rent to £2,716. Across the whole of 2025, London rents rose by just 0.8%, the slowest annual increase since 2020, when rents fell during the early stages of the pandemic.
Regional performance varied significantly. Rents rose the least in the North East, up just 0.4% over the year, followed closely by London. By contrast, the strongest growth was recorded in the North West, where rents increased by 3.6%, and in Yorkshire and the Humber, up 3.1%.
Rightmove said the slowdown in rent growth reflects an easing in competition between tenants. The total number of available homes to rent is now 9% higher than a year ago, helping to rebalance the market after the intense pressure of the pandemic years. On average, there were ten enquiries per rental property in 2025, down from fourteen in 2024, though still well above the pre-pandemic average of six seen in 2019.
However, the longer-term picture remains challenging. Compared with a decade ago, the supply of rental homes is still down by around a third, highlighting what Rightmove describes as a “chronic shortage” of rental property. This imbalance continues to underpin upward pressure on rents, even as short-term conditions improve.
There are tentative signs of recovery in landlord activity. Data from UK Finance shows that buy-to-let investment has picked up, with the number of new buy-to-let mortgages taken out to purchase rental homes rising by 13% in the year to October compared with the same period in 2024. Buy-to-let remortgaging activity also increased by 23%, suggesting more landlords are choosing to retain existing rental properties.
Affordability for landlords has also improved. According to Rightmove’s buy-to-let mortgage tracker, the average two-year fixed buy-to-let rate for a landlord with a 25% deposit stands at 4.84%, down from 5.51% a year earlier. The easing in borrowing costs could help support additional rental supply over time.
Looking ahead, Rightmove expects average advertised rents across Great Britain to rise by around 2% during 2026. While the balance between supply and demand is far healthier than during the pandemic years, the platform cautions that the underlying shortage of rental homes will continue to keep rents on an upward trajectory, with conditions likely to feel tighter in some regions than others.
