For the first time in six years, the UK’s fiercely competitive rental market is showing signs of relief for tenants, with fewer people vying for properties and slower rent increases making housing more affordable.
New data from property portal Zoopla reveals that competition for rented homes has fallen to its lowest level in six years. The average number of tenant enquiries per available property has dropped to 4.8, down from 6.5 a year earlier. This shift stems from an 11% year-on-year increase in the number of homes available to rent, combined with a 14% decline in overall renter demand.
Rents for new lets are now rising at just 1.9% annually, a notable slowdown from 2.8% growth the previous year.
In some regions, rents have even fallen. Cities including Birmingham (-0.7%), Nottingham (-0.8%), and areas in Wales (-1.7% year-on-year) are seeing declines, while growth remains stronger in more affordable northern markets like Liverpool (4.6%) and Newcastle (4.5%). In London, asking rents are up a modest 1.7%, with the average now at £2,187 per month.
A drop in migration
Zoopla attributes much of the reduced demand to a sharp drop in net migration to the UK.
Official figures from the Office for National Statistics show long-term net migration fell to 204,000 in the year ending June 2025 – roughly two-thirds lower than the 649,000 recorded the prior year and a steep decline from the peak of 944,000 in early 2023.
This follows policy changes tightening visa rules for work and study, which have curbed arrivals, particularly from non-EU countries.
“Lower demand driven by a 14% fall in renter demand, due to improving mortgage market conditions boosting first-time buyers (three-quarters of whom come from the rental market), and a continued decline in net migration into the UK,” Zoopla said, linking the trends directly to migration slowdowns and more properties entering the rental pool from sellers unable to move up the ladder.
Increased afforadbility
The affordability picture is also improving. Outside London, average rents now consume 33.5% of a single person’s gross annual income, down from a 20-year high of 35% in 2023, as earnings have outpaced rent growth for the past 18 months.
Tenants are also waiting longer to secure a place, with average time to find a tenant now at 20 days, up from just 13 days during the 2022 peak.
“Market conditions for renters are the best they have been for 6 years,” Donnell said. “The rental market is moving back towards balance as demand cools and more homes become available to rent. Renters are facing less competition for homes and slower rent increases than in recent years,” said Richard Donnell, Executive Director at Zoopla.
However, he cautioned that the relief may prove temporary in some areas.
“Localised changes in demand and supply are resulting in rents falling in some cities but this will be only a short lived trend,” Donnell added. “However, supply remains well below pre-pandemic levels, which means increasing the number of rental homes remains key to improving affordability for the UK renters over the long term.”
Zoopla forecasts rents to rise by around 2% to 3% on average across the UK in 2026, though lower-than-expected migration could push growth even softer.
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