Tenants across Great Britain are set to pay a record £85.6bn in rent in 2023, according to the November 2023 Hamptons Monthly Lettings Index.

The firm says that double-digit rental growth over the last year means the total rent bill has increased by £8.0bn over the last year from £77.6bn in 2022, marking the biggest annual jump on record. The total rent bill is now more than double what it was in 2010 (£40.3bn), partly because the number of households renting has increased by 25% or 1.1m over that period and partly because rents have risen too.

The average rent on a newly let home in Great Britain rose to £1,348pm in November, up 10.2% or £125pm on the same month last year. This marked the seventh double-digit increase over the last 12 months and the strongest annual rate of growth recorded in any November since Hamptons began compiling records in 2014.

Millennials (born 1980-1994) continue to dominate the rental market. They spent a record £36.9bn on rent in 2023, reversing the falls recorded between 2016 and 2020 when more millennials became homeowners.

In 2016, Millennials made up a record 58% of all rented households. That figure then fell to a low of 42% in 2021, before rising again to 44% in 2023.