The Know Daily - Monday 11 December 2023

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The winning images from the International Wedding Photographer of the Year Awards have been announced - and they really “take the cake”, said Euronews. Check out all the winners and runners up here. 

🏠 Record rent rises

Tenants in Britain faced the sharpest increase in rent for a decade last month, new data has revealed. 

What’s the story?
The research from estate agents Hamptons, published this morning in The Guardian, suggests that the average rent on a newly-let home in Britain rose by 10.2% year-on-year in November, to £1,348 per calendar month (pcm). 

This represents a £125 pcm increase on the same month last year - and the highest November rise since records began in 2014.

Is the picture the same around Britain?
No. Rents rose slowest in the south-west of England, where the average rent on a newly-let home rose by 5.1% to £1,162 pcm. 

In inner London, where rents rose fastest, the average newly-let property now costs £3,174 a month - a 13.2% increase over the last year. 

The average private renter in Britain now spends at least a third of their income on rent, The Independent reported in August.

What’s behind the rise?
While rent has increased over the past year because of “record-breaking rental growth”, it’s primarily down to the fact that more people are now renting, said Aneisha Beveridge, Hamptons’ head of research. 

Beveridge also pointed to the fact that more millennials are now getting on the housing ladder later, meaning they’re renting “larger, more expensive homes” as they start families. 

What else is going on?
“A shortage of rental properties has also pushed up prices,” said The Guardian, “as tenants have competed for fewer available homes to rent.”

Surveyors have said that rising interest rates are “putting pressure on landlords” and “pushing some to sell up”, The Times reported last week, as rising rates affect not only residential mortgages but also buy-to-let borrowing options.