Rents are now 16.3% higher than five years ago, having most recently risen by 2.8% over the last twelve months, according to the latest Buy-to-Let Index from Your Move and Reeds Rains.

In absolute terms, the average residential rent across England & Wales has grown by £107 since January 2010, to reach £763 as of January 2015. This amounts to an average annual rent rise of 3.0% over the last half decade. However, this represents a real terms increase of 0.6% per annum when adjusted for inflation over the same period.

Most recently, rents have fallen on a monthly basis, down 0.6% between December 2014 and January 2015. On an annual basis, rents are 2.8% higher than was seen last January.

Adrian Gill, director of estate agents Reeds Rains and Your Move, comments: “The nature and affordability of UK housing is transforming before our eyes. In the last five years the private rented sector has successfully absorbed an unprecedented influx of tenants, while rental prices have broadly tracked inflation.

“As ever, the devil is in the detail – but as this growth accelerates, even more investment will be necessary for the industry to keep up. So we need more buy-to-let landlords to help solve the crisis in demand for homes to rent.”