Scottish rental inflation hits ‘low’ of 5.1%

The price of renting in Scotland elevated by 5.1% to April 2025, the bottom month-to-month determine since November 2022, in line with agent DJ Alexander.

Which means that rental inflation north of the border is now 2.3% decrease than the UK common, which is 7.4%.

Solely Dumfries and Galloway on 10.0%, Fife on 8.0%, and the Scottish Borders on 7.9% have a bigger annual worth enhance than the UK.

The areas with the bottom annual will increase are Better Glasgow on 3.3%, Perth and Kinross on 3.6%, and Highland rising by 4.7%.

David Alexander, the chief government officer of DJ Alexander Scotland, stated: “These figures present that the PRS in Scotland has traditionally had regular annual will increase.

“The rise in common rents has solely actually occurred within the final 5 years as a consequence of plenty of components however a scarcity of provide is clearly a significant factor on this.”

“That the typical hire rise is decrease – and has been beneath the remainder of the UK for nearly a yr – signifies the equity of property buyers and landlords in setting an affordable hire for his or her tenants.”

Between January 2016 and December 2021 common rents in Scotland remained pretty static beneath 3.0% however started rising steadily to peak at 11.7% in August 2023.

Since then, the speed of annual rents has been falling steadily and has been beneath the UK common since June 2024.

Alexander added: “Clearly sustaining a robust provide of properties is vital to stabilising costs within the PRS and something which threatens to subvert this won’t be welcomed by landlords or tenants.”

“The PRS in Scotland continues to be a dynamic, vibrant and thriving sector because the variety of folks looking for a house continues to be better than the availability.

“What this could create is a market that exhibits regular annual rises with out the unpredictability of enormous will increase one yr adopted by dips the subsequent. Regular will increase are at all times preferable to a rollercoaster journey of worth rises and falls.”

“All people desires a workable, truthful, and thriving non-public rented sector. Making certain the sector is supported and inspired is one of the simplest ways to take care of affordable rents now and sooner or later.

“It’s incumbent on everybody concerned within the sector that now we have a system which is maintained for the long run, which permits landlords to make a revenue and tenants to pay a good hire for the market we’re in, and which is sustainable within the medium to long run.”