For those landlords wondering where the best and worst areas in England for rental growth are, then a new survey has revealed all.
Landbay says that the average rental property grew by 0.64% in England in the 12 months to April.
With rents falling in London, this has led to rent rises being weighed down but otherwise most of England saw resilient rental growth.
The report from Landbay highlights that the best performance in terms of rent growth are found in Leicester, where there was a 3.02% increase followed by Nottingham with a 2.96% rise.
Of the top 10 areas that saw rent rises, eight of them are found in the East Midlands or the East of England.
Bottom 10 of rent fallers
For the bottom 10 of rent fallers sees six boroughs in London feature.
Landlords in Kensington and Chelsea saw rents fall by 1.4%, in Kingston upon Thames rents fell by 0.98% and in Hammersmith by 0.81%.
The other poor performers were in Tower Hamlets, Barnett and Harrow. In the capital, 17 out of the 33 boroughs saw rents fall.
The chief executive of Landbay, John Goodall, said: “Falling rents in parts of the country, particularly in London's expensive prime locations, distort the picture with rents in England continuing to grow at a steady pace.
“The country will always need homes with growing numbers of those who do not want to or cannot buy and they will need to rely on the private rental sector in the years ahead.”
He added: “Rent growth may not be what it was and the pace of change varies between regions.
“Prospective landlords should be astute to maximise profits and pick out promising regions by using variations in yield and rental growth over the past year. Consistent rental demand will drive returns over the long-term and choosing the right location will deliver greater yields.”
International professionals increasingly applying for guarantor services
Meanwhile, it has been revealed that growing numbers of international professionals are applying for guarantor service in the UK as they secure rental homes.
Housing Hand says that year-on-year there has been a 67% rise - with 62% of these coming from Europe. They add that 7% are from China and 5% are from America.
Most of these international professionals are settling in London, which accounts for 25%, with the rest spread around other cities - though the most popular of these is Birmingham which accounts for 5% of applicants.
The firm's managing director, Jeremy Robinson said: “Brexit appears to be discouraging European workers from the UK but there is a surge of international professionals looking to work and live here.”
Most of these looking to use a guarantor service, says Mr Robinson, do not have a credit rating in the UK or have failed a reference check and most are not deterred by the rhetoric over immigration or Brexit.
