Tenants see 2.1% annual rise in rent, says ONS
The cost of renting a home from a private landlord in Britain rose by 2.1% in the year to the end of March, official figures show.
Tenants in England and Scotland saw an identical rise, but the increase in Wales was slower, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.
On a regional level, the sharpest rise - of 3.2% - was in London.
The slowest was a 0.4% increase in the North East of England, as well as Yorkshire and the Humber.
"We have a chronic shortage of housing in the areas where jobs are being created, so rents continue to rise as supply fails to meet demand," said Matt Hutchinson, director of flat and house share site SpareRoom.co.uk.
"In some areas of London we are seeing up to 13 people compete for every room advertised during peak months."
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The latest official figures from the ONS showed that house prices rose at a faster rate than the cost of renting.
There was a 7.2% increase in property prices in the year to the end of February.
The cost of renting rose by 2.1% in England in the year to the end of March, by 2.1% in Scotland, but by 0.8% in Wales, the ONS said.
|Annual change in cost of renting - nations and regions|
|South East of England||2.3%|
|East of England||1.9%|
|South West of England||1.7%|
|North West of England||0.6%|
|North East of England||0.4%|
|Yorkshire and the Humber||0.4%|
|Source: ONS; 12 months to end of March|