Rental price growth across the UK eased in August, with the average rent in the UK now at £921 a month, compared to £851 a year ago, according to the data from the August HomeLet Rental Index.

The average monthly private rent in London stood at £1,464 and in the rest of the country £729 although some regions that were previously showing high growth month on month have fallen and in total the average monthly variation in rent across the UK was 2.3%.

Only London at 2.4% and the South East at 3%, registered increases of more than 2%. East Anglia and the South West, both of which have been recording strong growth in recent months, have seen a slowdown in August with rents in East Anglia increasing by just 1% and the South West recording a drop in rental prices by 0.9%. Rents were also lower in Scotland, Wales, the North West and North East of England as well as the East Midlands. The biggest fall in rental prices is in the North West where rents paid for new tenancies last month were, on average, 3.5% lower than those paid on new tenancies in July. Elsewhere, rents were up by 1.9% in the West Midlands, and by 1% in the East Midlands and Northern Ireland.