The Office for National Statistics reported that private rental prices paid by UK tenants rose by 5.3% in the twelve months to July 2023, compared with 5.2% in the year to June. The bulletin, published on 16 August 2023, used the Index of Private Housing Rental Prices, then classified as experimental statistics.
The national figures were different: annual increases were 5.2% in England, 6.5% in Wales and 5.7% in Scotland. London’s annual figure was 5.5%. These are historical index changes, not current rents or the increase received by every household.
Why another rental report could look different
The ONS explained that the index reflected price changes across the private rental stock, including existing tenancies, rather than only the prices of newly advertised homes. That made it different from a measure focused on the flow of homes entering the market.
Collection methods also varied between nations. In England and Wales, the sources included achieved rents for new and existing tenancies. Scottish data were predominantly advertised rents for new lets, with different recollection procedures. Northern Ireland data also drew on advertised new lets. Those qualifications matter when drawing comparisons between the country figures.
At the time of publication, Northern Ireland data were available only to May 2023. The index was carried forward to estimate the latest UK figures, which were therefore subject to subsequent revision. The release described that process rather than presenting every recent observation as final.
Read the measure before the argument
Our interpretation is that rental debate benefits from describing the dataset before drawing a policy conclusion. A measure of new asking rents, an index including existing agreements and a survey of renters’ experiences can each add information, but they are not interchangeable.
Keep the reference month separate from the publication date, and distinguish an annual change from a monthly movement. The figure alone cannot establish how much of the movement was caused by a particular policy, financing cost or change in supply.
This archive records the July 2023 release and its methodology. It does not repeat the imported commentary’s political explanation as an established statistical finding, nor use an older index as a present-day market update.