The latest Rental Market Report from Zoopla has revealed that the imbalance between supply and demand for rented homes has narrowed sharply over 2025.
Rental growth slowed to 2.2% at the end of October 2025, down from 3.3% a year earlier. Average UK rents stand at £1,320 per month, £30 up year-on-year.
Demand for rented homes has fallen by 20% over the last year, which Zoopla says reflects two main factors: a sharp decline in net migration, which ONS provisional estimates say has fallen by 78% between June 2023 and June 2025, and improved mortgage affordability for first-time buyers, which has boosted demand to buy homes.
The market is on track for 20% more first-time buyers purchasing homes over 2025 and many of these buyers come from the rental market, which is one reason why there are 15% more homes to rent compared to last year. The average estate agency branch now has 14 homes for rent. This is up from a low of just 8 in 2022, though still lower than the pre-pandemic average of 17.
Zoopla says that the time it takes for a property to rent is a key barometer of rental market health, and its data shows that the time to rent has been increasing, with the average home staying on the market for 17 days before being rented. This is almost a fifth higher (18%) than a year ago and 42% longer than during the demand boom for rented homes during the pandemic.
The time to rent has increased across all regions and countries of the UK as the pressure on the rental market has cooled, with the average ranging from 14 days in Scotland to 19 in the West Midlands. The report says that longer times to let will limit how much rents can be increased, which means lower levels of rental growth over 2026.
Rental inflation across the regions and countries of Great Britain has slowed over the last year. Overall, rental growth is strongest in lower-value markets where affordability provides more headroom for rental increases, while higher-value areas are seeing slower growth as stretched affordability limits further rent rises.
As a result, rents are rising fastest in the North East (4.5%) and North West (3.2%), while growth is weakest in London (1.6%) and in the West Midlands and Scotland (both 1.7%).
Richard Donnell, executive director at Zoopla, said: “The rental market has made a big stride back towards normality over 2025 after a prolonged period of sky-high demand and a lack of homes for rent. This is welcome relief for renters who can expect to see a greater choice of homes, slower rent increases and a less competitive market. However, the high costs of buying a home remain a barrier to many renters, which will support demand for renting over 2026. While there are signs that landlords are buying homes again, we do not expect a big increase in supply, meaning rents are set to increase by 2.5% over 2026.”
