The 15 cities and towns outside London where rents are rising fastest including Slough and Dundee

The cost of renting a home is climbing far faster in some parts of Britain than others, figures show. 

Big cities such as London, Manchester and Edinburgh are among those seeing the price of new lettings increase the most in the past year, according to figures shared with NationalWorld by property website Zoopla.

The Newham area of London saw the largest rise, with average prices up by a fifth (20.9%) in the year to January 2023.

Across Great Britain, the monthly price of lettings put on the market rose by 11.1% over the same period, Zoopla’s rental index shows.

This is far higher than the 8.8% rise in the inflation measure which includes homeowners’ costs - the Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers' housing costs (CPIH).

Zoopla’s executive director Richard Donnell said the high prices were a result of increased demand and static supply levels.

He said: “The rental market has been running very hot over the last year. It’s a growing area of concern for renters who face a market with 33% fewer homes for rent than normal.”

He said higher prices were adding to the cost-of-living pressures on renters.

“We expect rental growth to slow over 2023 as affordability pressures bite, and the slowdown could be dramatic in some city centres. Only by boosting landlords of all shapes and sizes to increase rental supply can we improve choice and control the pace of rental inflation,” he said.

The government is set to introduce a new Renters' Reform Bill in England, which it says will ease the squeeze on tenants, for example by giving them stronger powers to challenge rent increases.

The Scottish government has introduced a temporary cap on rental price increases for sitting tenants, but this does not cover lets put on the market. 

Many of the local authority areas seeing the biggest rises in the cost of new lettings were in London, the data shows.

Here are the 15 places outside the capital which saw prices increase the most in the year to January 2023.