Private tenants have seen their rents go up by just 1.2% in the past year, according to the latest official data.
That equates to landlords taking an extra £6 on rent of £500 a month, says the Office for National Statistics.
The increase is just 0.1% more than the 1.1% annual rent rise reported in February.
While rents in England hit an annual rent rise of 1.2%, landlords in Wales gained a 1.1% rise and those in Scotland were up just 0.7% for the second month running.
In London, rents were up 0.5%, a 0.3% increase on February 2019, which was the biggest surge in annual rent growth since November 2017 in the capital.
The ONS suggests data may show tenant demand is starting to outstrip the supply of properties to rent in London.
Landlords in the East Midlands saw the highest year-on-year rent increase of 2.3%, followed by Yorkshire and Humber (1.8%) and the South West (1.7%).
The lowest was in the North East, where annual rents increased by 0.3% for the second month running.
“Growth in private rental prices paid by tenants in the UK has generally slowed since the beginning of 2016, driven mainly by a slowdown in London over the same period,” says the ONS Index of Private Rental House Prices for March 2019.
“Weaker growth in Scotland since 2016 may be due to stronger supply and weaker demand.”
Rent changes March 2018 – March 2019 in England
Source: ONS
