Private rent and house prices, UK: June 2026

• Average UK monthly private rent inflation continued to slow, increasing by 3.3%, to £1,383, in the 12 months to May 2026 (provisional estimate); this annual growth rate is down from 3.5% in the 12 months to April 2026.

• Average rents increased to £1,442 (3.4%) in England, £836 (4.7%) in Wales, and £1,009 (1.0%) in Scotland, in the 12 months to May 2026.

• In Northern Ireland, average rents increased to £876 (3.3%) in the 12 months to March 2026.

• In England, private rent annual inflation was highest in the North East (5.9%), and lowest in London (2.0%), in the 12 months to May 2026.

• Average UK house prices increased by 3.8%, to £270,000, in the 12 months to April 2026 (provisional estimate); this annual growth rate is up from 0.0% in the 12 months to March 2026.

• The rise in annual UK house price inflation between March and April 2026 is caused by a base effect; this is because average UK prices rose moderately between March and April 2026, while decreasing sharply in the same period a year ago, following Stamp Duty Land Tax changes in England and Northern Ireland on 1 April 2025.

• Average house prices increased to £291,000 (3.9%) in England, £212,000 (3.5%) in Wales, and £192,000 (2.8%) in Scotland, in the 12 months to April 2026.

Average UK monthly private rents increased by 3.3% in the 12 months to May 2026 (provisional estimate). This was down from 3.5% in the 12 months to April 2026, and continues the general trend of slowing UK rent annual inflation since December 2024.

Average UK house prices were £270,000 in April 2026 and increased by 3.8% (provisional estimate) in the 12 months to April 2026. This annual growth was up from 0.0% (revised estimate) in the 12 months to March 2026, and represents the highest annual inflation rate since March 2025, before Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) changes implemented on 1 April 2025.

The annual rate increased because average UK house prices experienced a modest monthly rise (0.7%) between March and April 2026, while there was a large monthly fall (negative 2.9%) in the same period a year ago. A rise in the annual rate because of a large monthly fall a year ago is called a base effect. The large monthly fall in average UK house prices in April 2025 coincided with changes to SDLT in England and Northern Ireland on 1 April 2025. This observed impact on the annual rate is similar to that reported in 2021 following changes to SDLT that same year.

HM Land Registry (HMLR) publishes the full UK House Price Index report and monthly data.

Our local housing statistics tool summarises the latest private rents and house price statistics for local areas across the UK.

Revisions

UK monthly rent estimates for the latest two months and UK House Price Index (HPI) estimates for the latest 12 months are provisional and subject to revision (see Section 10: Data sources and quality). All statistics are non-seasonally adjusted estimates, unless stated otherwise.

UK HPI first estimates (provisional) are based on sales volumes reflecting around 47% of all sales in Great Britain in April 2026. Transaction volumes for older periods and new builds remain lower than they have been historically.

The average house price for England was £291,000 in April 2026, up 3.9% (£10,000) from a year earlier. This annual inflation rate was higher than in the 12 months to March 2026 (negative 0.7%). The sharp rise in England's annual inflation rate this month was caused by a base effect from large monthly price falls a year ago coinciding with SDLT changes in England in April 2025. The average house price for England rose by a modest 0.6% (provisional estimate) between March and April 2026.

The average house price for Wales was £212,000 in April 2026, up 3.5% (£7,000) from a year earlier. This annual rise was higher than in the 12 months to March 2026 (2.8%).

The average house price for Scotland was £192,000 in April 2026, up 2.8% (£5,000) from a year earlier. This annual rise was higher than in the 12 months to March 2026 (1.7%).

The average house price for Northern Ireland was £198,000 in Quarter 1 (Jan to Mar) 2026, up 7.4% (£14,000) from Quarter 1 2025.

The North East was the English region with the highest house price inflation, at 9.9%, in the 12 months to April 2026. This was up from a fall of 0.9% in the 12 months to March 2026. The sharp rise in the North East's annual inflation was caused by a base effect from large monthly price falls a year ago, coinciding with SDLT changes in England in April 2025.

Annual house price inflation was lowest in London. The SDLT changes had minimal impact on areas such as London where average prices are higher. Prices fell by 2.1% in the 12 months to April 2026, unchanged from the 12 months to March 2026. This is the ninth consecutive month in which London has seen an annual fall in house prices.

The average monthly private rent in the UK was £1,383 per month in May 2026. This is £44 (3.3%) higher than 12 months ago.

Figure 3: The average rent in the UK was £1,383 in May 2026

Average private rent, UK overview and across the UK, January 2015 to May 2026

Notes:

1. Northern Ireland private rent data are currently available up to March 2026. To produce UK rent statistics up to May 2026, Northern Ireland's index for the latest two months has been estimated using the monthly average of Northern Ireland's latest two-month inflation rate. 

2. UK PIPR estimates for April 2026, and May 2026 will be revised in line with PIPR's two-month revision policy. More information is available in Section 10: Data sources and quality. 

3. Northern Ireland rent data are for advertised new lets. 

4. Because of data collection limitations, Scotland rent data (used in the PIPR) have historically been predominately advertised new lets. Users should bear this in mind when comparing data from across the UK.

England

Average monthly rent for England was £1,442 in May 2026, up 3.4% (£48) from a year earlier. This annual rise was lower than in the 12 months to April 2026 (3.5%).

Wales

Average monthly rent for Wales was £836 in May 2026, up 4.7% (£37) from a year earlier. This annual rise was lower than in the 12 months to April 2026 (4.9%) and down from the most recent peak of 8.9% in March 2025.

Scotland

Average monthly rent for Scotland was £1,009 in May 2026, up 1.0% (£10) from a year earlier. This annual rise was lower than in the 12 months to April 2026 (2.0%) and represents the lowest annual rise for almost a decade.

Scotland's annual inflation rate has been generally slowing since the record-high annual rise of 11.7%, in August 2023. This trend of the past three years has continued this month, with the annual rate for Scotland continuing to slow, caused by slowing annual inflation in 14 of the 18 broad rental market areas.

Previous data collection limitations meant that Scotland rent data, which are used in the Price Index of Private Rents (PIPR) stock measure, were mainly for advertised new lets. Scottish Government are extending their data collection process, which is increasing their collection of achieved rents for both existing and new tenancies.

From September 2022 to March 2025, measures relating to in-tenancy rent increases were implemented in Scotland (see Section 10: Data sources and quality). We advise users to bear this in mind when interpreting estimates for Scotland and comparing them with those for other UK countries.

Northern Ireland

Average monthly rent in Northern Ireland was £876 in March 2026, up 3.3% (£28) from a year earlier. This annual rise was lower than in the 12 months to February 2026 (4.0%) and the lowest in over five years. Northern Ireland's annual inflation rate has been slowing since the record-high annual rise of 9.9%, in April 2024.

Northern Ireland's rent data are for advertised new lets. We advise users to bear this in mind when comparing data from across the UK (see Section 10: Data sources and quality).

Figure 4: Rent annual inflation slowed in England, Wales and Scotland

Private rent annual inflation, across the UK, January 2016 to May 2026

Notes:

1. Northern Ireland rent data are currently available up to March 2026 and are for advertised new lets. 

2. Because of data collection limitations, Scotland rent data (used in the PIPR) have historically been predominately advertised new lets (see Section 10: Data sources and quality). Users should bear this in mind when comparing data from across the UK.

The North East continued to have the highest rent annual inflation rate of all English regions, at 5.9%, in the 12 months to May 2026. This annual rise was lower than in the 12 months to April 2026 (6.5%).

Rent annual inflation remained lowest in London, at 2.0%, in the 12 months to May 2026, and was unchanged from the 12 months to April 2026.

Average rent was highest in London (£2,294) and lowest in the North East (£776) in May 2026.

Figure 6: Privately renting a property is most expensive in London

Average private rent, English regions, January 2015 to May 2026

Average monthly private rents vary across local authorities in England and Wales, and Broad Rental Market Areas in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

In May 2026, average monthly rent was highest in Kensington and Chelsea, London (£3,591) and lowest in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland (£551). Excluding London, the local area with the highest average monthly rent in May 2026 was Oxford, South East (£1,958).

Figure 7: Average rent was more than six times higher in the most expensive local area than in the least expensive

Average private rent and annual inflation, local authorities in England and Wales, and Broad Rental Market Areas in Scotland and Northern Ireland, January 2015 to May 2026

Notes:

1. Values of [x] in this tool represent data which are not available.

2. Northern Ireland rent data are currently available up to March 2026.

The average UK monthly private rent in May 2026 was highest for detached properties (£1,572) and lowest for flats and maisonettes (£1,351). Average UK private rent was highest for properties with four or more bedrooms (£2,056) and lowest for properties with one bedroom (£1,123).

Figure 8: The average private rent increases with property size

Average private rent, local authorities in England and Wales (May 2026), and Broad Rental Market Areas in Scotland (May 2026) and Northern Ireland (March 2026)

Notes:

1. Northern Ireland rent data are currently available up to March 2026.

Administrative data

Data that are already collected for other purposes through day-to-day activities. Examples include health records or social security payments.

Annual percentage change

The rate at which prices rise and fall over a 12-month period. Interchangeable with "annual inflation" (or "annual growth", if positive).

Non-seasonally adjusted

A non-seasonally adjusted series is one that includes seasonal effects.

Price inflation

Inflation is the rate at which prices rise and fall over time.

Following actions taken in response to the Office for Statistics Regulation's (OSR's) Spotlight on Quality Assessment: PIPR report, in October 2024, we reviewed the "official statistics in development" status of the Price Index of Private Rents (PIPR). On 20 May 2026, PIPR data became "official statistics" and are no longer considered to be "in development". We will continue to work on PIPR as part of our commitment to the continuous improvement of our statistics. Read more in our Guide to official statistics in development and our Private rental prices development plan article.

UK House Price Index

HM Land Registry (HMLR) publishes the full UK House Price Index (HPI) report and monthly data. Additionally, the Registers of Scotland publishes UK HPI reports, and Land and Property Services Northern Ireland publishes Northern Ireland HPI reports.

UK HPI's revision policy is in Section 4.4 of HMLR's About the UK House Price Index guidance. We introduced an improvement to HPI's imputation method for Great Britain on 20 August 2025, which reduces initial overestimation of new build estimates in provisional estimates. More detail about this methods improvement is available in our How we are developing our house price statistics blog post and in Section 4.9 of HMLR's About the UK House Price Index guidance.

UK HPI sales volume estimates for older periods and new builds remain lower than historical averages but continue to improve. Users should be aware that revisions may be larger than they have been historically, and should note the uncertainty in new build estimates. This is because of low availability of new build data for the most recent months.

The methods improvement enacted on 20 August 2025 reduces uncertainty in new build estimates, and HMLR continues ongoing activity to reduce the average time to register new build sales. We will continue to monitor the new build series and UK HPI revisions, and to identify potential areas for further improvements in the future.

Price Index of Private Rents

The reference period for indexing the PIPR is January 2023, and statistics are available from January 2015. PIPR coverage was expanded to the whole of the UK, and small improvements were made to the Great Britain historical series by incorporating additional data, in March 2025.

Our Price Index of Private Rents, UK: historical series dataset links the Index of Private Housing Rental Prices (IPHRP) trends before 2015, with PIPR trends from 2015 onwards, down to region level. We advise caution when comparing the trends before 2015 with later estimates because of the methodology change in January 2015.

Our Private rental prices development plan, UK: updated May 2026 article summarises our updated responses and actions taken relating to user requests. It also outlines planned further developments relating to PIPR.

Sources for Price Index of Private Rents

Our Quality assurance of administrative data used in the PIPR methodology describes PIPR data sources.

Data collection for Price Index of Private Rents

In England and Wales, achieved rent data are collected for both new and existing tenancies.

In Northern Ireland, rent data are for newly advertised lets.

Until recently, Scotland rent data were predominantly for advertised new lets, with only a small proportion based on existing lets data. Therefore, price changes for existing tenancies were largely estimated for Scotland. The Scottish Government have been extending their data collection process, which is increasing their collection of achieved rents for both existing and new tenancies.

Measures relating to in-tenancy rent increases were implemented in Scotland from September 2022 to March 2025. More detail is available in our Price Index of Private Rents, UK dataset and in Section 10: Data sources and quality of our Private rent and house prices, UK: March 2025 bulletin. During this period, these measures did not apply to the price of new lets used to estimate the price of existing tenancies. Scottish Government statisticians believe that the lack of data on existing tenants, to which these measures previously applied, will have led to overestimation in stock prices and indices for Scotland during this period.

Revision policy for Price Index of Private Rents

Northern Ireland rents data are not available for the latest two months. For a given Northern Ireland series (including breakdowns), index values for the latest two months have been estimated by applying the monthly average of the latest available two-month inflation rate for that series to the latest available index value for that series.

These imputed index values for the latest two months for Northern Ireland were aggregated with the corresponding data for Great Britain. We used PIPR weights to produce provisional UK estimates for the latest two months for each UK series (including UK-level breakdowns).

Each subsequent month, updated Northern Ireland data are used to revise estimates for the UK, providing a two-month revision period for the UK series in PIPR.

Strengths and limitations

Strengths

The PIPR reflects price changes for all privately rented properties, including existing tenancies and newly advertised lets.

The PIPR produces prices that are comparable over time, and publishes to an increased level of geographic granularity.

Our How we measure rental price inflation blog post explains the differences between measures of new-let annual inflation and PIPR. The PIPR measures the price change of the entire privately rented stock.

Limitations

While mitigation efforts are made, price changes at a local level can be influenced by the type and number of properties collected in any given period, which may lead to volatility. Longer-term trends should be considered for lower-level geographic breakdowns, rather than monthly movements.

Estimates for the City of London and Isles of Scilly are not published because of low collection volumes.

Because of differences in data collection and housing policy, caution is advised when comparing estimates for Scotland and Northern Ireland with other areas in England and Wales, and within Scotland. More information is available in our PIPR quality and methodology Information (QMI).

Future developments

Following our request for a quality-focused assessment of PIPR, the OSR published their Spotlight on Quality Assessment: PIPR report in October 2024.

We have been reported progress through our Private rental prices development plan, with the last update published in May 2026. On 20 May 2026, we updated the status of PIPR from "official statistics in development" to "official statistics". We are engaging with the OSR to review our progress towards meeting the requirements laid out in their October 2024 Spotlight on Quality Assessment: PIPR report, and the next steps to obtain "accredited official statistics" status for PIPR.

Contact us at hpi@ons.gov.uk.