Looking for a rental home that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg? Here’s your complete guide to the cheapest places to rent in the UK.
Rents for new lets have risen by an average of £1,320 over the last year. It’s driven by rental demand sitting 51% above the five-year average, while the availability of rental homes is down 30% compared to normal for this time of year.
This supply and demand mismatch has pushed rents 10.5% higher over the last 12 months – although this is a little slower than the 12.1% growth we saw a year ago.
With rents still rising and the cost-of-living squeeze pushing all our purses to the limit, you might be looking for a cheaper home to rent.
The good news is there are some places where it’s much cheaper to rent a home than others.
Let’s take a look at the regions, cities and local areas with the cheapest rents in the UK.
The cheapest places to rent in the UK – regions
For the cheapest rents in the country, set your sights on the North East – tenants spend an average of £649 per month on rent here.
Northern Ireland, Scotland, Yorkshire and the Humber, and the North West all sit at the cheaper end of the scale too, with rents averaging less than £800 per month.
Rents in the South of England are much more expensive than anywhere else in the country.
London is by far the most expensive region to rent in the UK (£2,053 per month), followed by the South East (£1,254), East of England (£1,111) and South West (£1,016).
| Region | Average rent | Annual % change |
|---|---|---|
| North East | £649 | +9.5% |
| Northern Ireland | £744 | +4.2% |
| Scotland | £748 | +12.7% |
| Yorkshire and the Humber | £758 | +8.4% |
| North West | £795 | +11.0% |
| Wales | £814 | +9.9% |
| East Midlands | £816 | +9.5% |
| West Midlands | £852 | +10.0% |
| South West | £1,016 | +7.8% |
| East of England | £1,111 | +9.8% |
| South East | £1,254 | +9.5% |
| London | £2,053 | +12.4% |
Rental Market Report, September 2023 (data to July 2023)
The cheapest UK cities to rent a home in 2023
Just because you want cheaper rent, it doesn’t mean you have to move out to the sticks.
The cost of rent varies a huge amount across UK cities, with Belfast, Liverpool and Sheffield offering the cheapest average rents.
In Belfast, rents are currently averaging £759 per month – plus it has affordable living costs compared to mainland Britain.
Renters in Liverpool are paying £764 per month to live in the UK’s friendliest city, where rents have risen 8.7% in the last year.
The only other major city where rents are below £800 per month is Sheffield, the vibrant Yorkshire city that’s home to a lively student scene.
Cities in the Midlands tend to be fairly cheap to rent, with Birmingham and Nottingham both posting average rents of below £900 per month.
When it comes to Scotland, you’ll find a dynamic city lifestyle and cheap rents in Glasgow, where rents average £898 per month. Edinburgh is much pricier with an average rent of £1,199 per month.
In southern cities, you can expect to pay higher rent than anywhere else in the country. London and Bristol have the highest monthly rents of any UK city, with Southampton also posting an expensive average rate of £1,057.
| City | Average monthly rent | Annual % change |
|---|---|---|
| Belfast | £759 | +4.7% |
| Liverpool | £764 | +8.7% |
| Sheffield | £772 | +7.9% |
| Birmingham | £880 | +10.6% |
| Nottingham | £896 | +10.1% |
| Glasgow | £898 | +13.7% |
| Leeds | £908 | +8.6% |
| Manchester | £994 | +13.1% |
| Cardiff | £1,011 | +10.7% |
| Southampton | £1,057 | +10.6% |
| Edinburgh | £1,199 | +15.6% |
| Bristol | £1,315 | +9.1% |
| London | £2,053 | +12.4% |
Rental Market Report, September 2023 (data to July 2023)
The cheapest places to rent in every region
Getting cheaper rent doesn’t mean you have to move to a whole new part of the country, either.
Here’s a breakdown of the cheapest districts to rent in each UK region. It might be that you could get a cheaper rent just by moving a few miles.
| Region | Cheapest local authority to rent | Average monthly rent |
|---|---|---|
| East Midlands | East Lindsey | £626 |
| East of England | Waveny | £724 |
| London | Bexley | £1,455 |
| North East | Hartlepool | £497 |
| North West | Burnley | £521 |
| Scotland | East Ayrshire | £502 |
| South East | Isle of Wight | £862 |
| South West | North Devon | £753 |
| Wales | Powys | £594 |
| West Midlands | Stoke-on-Trent | £632 |
| Yorkshire and the Humber | Hull | £578 |
Rental Market Report, September 2023 (data to July 2023)
Key takeaways
- UK rents have risen by 10.5% in the last year, bringing the average monthly rent to £1,163
- The North East is the cheapest region to rent a home in the UK with an average rent of £649 per month
- The cheapest major cities to rent are Belfast, Liverpool, Sheffield and Birmingham, where average rents are below £900 per month
- London rents have hit £2,053, making it twice as expensive to rent a home in London than in the South West (£1,016)