Wrexham is the busiest rental market, based on millions of local data points across more than 250 local authorities, new data from Rightmove shows.
An average letting agent in Wrexham is currently receiving 54 enquiries for every rental home that comes onto the market.
This high-volume of applications from prospective tenants compares to a Great Britain average of 19 in the rental market right now.
Glasgow is second on the list, with an average of 52 enquiries being sent to letting agents per available rental property, and Bristol is third on the list, with an average of 51 enquiries per property.
Meanwhile, average advertised rents outside London are now a record £1,349 per calendar month (pcm) and 5% higher than this time last year. However, this is down from the peak annual rate of growth of 12% in 2022 and is the slowest that rents have been increasing since 2021. The 5% growth is in-line with Rightmove’s price prediction for the rental market for this year.
While the market is still very busy, the supply-demand imbalance in the rental market has been improving this year.
The number of tenants looking for a home has dropped by 16% compared to last year, and at the same time, the overall number of available homes on the market has improved by 8%.
The rental market is still in need of more supply of available homes to prevent a reversal in the improvements to the balance of supply and demand this year.
The number of tenants looking for a home is still 17% ahead of the more normal pre-pandemic 2019 market, while the number of available rental homes is still 32% behind the same period in 2019.
A recent report from Rightmove also identified that a record proportion of former rental homes are now available on the sales market, a sign of more landlords selling up, with high mortgage rates, a potential increase to capital gains tax and increased costs to landlords all potential drivers of the increase.
Rightmove’s Tim Bannister said: “Whilst at a high-level there has been an easing in the rental market compared with last year, from speaking with agents, we know that many local markets are yet to feel the effect from these improvements. At the same time, prospective tenants are still likely to be experiencing a very hot and competitive market.
“To be receiving upwards of 50 enquiries per available rental property in some local areas is an astonishing figure, which goes to show the significant amount of work still to be done to improve the balance of supply and demand across different areas of Great Britain.”
Rightmove’s Demand Tracker: Top 20 Busiest Markets
| Area | Average number of enquiries per available rental property | Average advertised rent per calendar month |
| Wrexham | 54 | £967 |
| Glasgow | 52 | £1,078 |
| Bristol | 51 | £1,658 |
| Plymouth | 50 | £1,137 |
| Wirral | 47 | £999 |
| Salford | 47 | £1,232 |
| Stockport | 46 | £1,384 |
| Oldham | 45 | £1,022 |
| Tameside | 45 | £1,091 |
| Bath and North East Somerset | 45 | £1,784 |
| Blackpool | 44 | £805 |
| Rochdale | 42 | £1,048 |
| Lancaster | 41 | £992 |
| Liverpool | 41 | £1,018 |
| Edinburgh | 41 | £1,582 |
| Manchester | 41 | £1,362 |
| Norwich | 41 | £1,229 |
| Telford and Wrekin | 40 | £1,030 |
| Bury | 40 | £1,088 |
| Wigan | 39 | £895 |
Responding to the data, Angharad Trueman, ARLA Propertymark president, said: “Since the coronavirus pandemic there has been a sizable reformatting of how people choose the location on where they might like to live. Traditionally people have chosen locations that have strong links to their work location, for example close to major cities.
“However, with the homeworking revolution now a more widespread part of life, it has given people the flexibility to look further afield to locations that bring additional benefits to their home life, such as easier access to countryside or the ability dwell in a more substantial property due to typically lower rental prices away from busy metropolitan areas.”