Paragon Mortgages latest quarterly research shows that 13% of the landlords surveyed have increased rental rates across their portfolios by between 2% and 4% - with 4% saying they had increased rental income up to 6%.

Of those surveyed, 8% said that their rental income had risen by 2%, with 4% saying it had increased by more than 6%.

However there is a clear difference between the results from smaller scale and for professional landlords. Nearly one in five smaller scale landlords (19%) reported rising rental income during the quarter, but the overwhelming majority (75%) said rents have remained unchanged.

For professional landlords it is a different picture, with almost a third (32%) saying their rental income had increased in the first quarter and only 2% saying that it had decreased in Q2 this year.

Nigel Terrington, Paragon Group Chief Executive, said: “Results from our latest research shows that rental income has increased steadily during the second quarter. Landlords are continuing to experience high levels of demand for their properties so have been able to make small increases to rent levels, without making accommodation unaffordable.

“Demand for privately rented property shows no sign of slowing down with four out of ten landlords (40%) believing that tenant demand is either growing or ‘booming’, and will continue to do so for the next 12 months.”