A September 2023 rental forecast made an important distinction between income and the costs of providing a home. Hamptons expected rents to rise over several years, but argued that some landlords could nevertheless be worse off. LandlordZONE’s account presented the forecast against rising financing costs and longstanding supply pressures.
The report projected an average Great Britain rent of £1,550 a month by 2026. It described that as £333 above December 2022 and approximately a quarter higher over the period. These were projections made in 2023. This archive does not verify that the predicted level was reached or apply it to a property today.
The forecast anticipated different rates of growth across the intervening years, with the strongest increases early in the period. Its explanation focused partly on owners moving away from earlier fixed-rate borrowing arrangements into more expensive finance. Increased gross rental income would not necessarily offset that change in expenditure.
London was expected to experience stronger growth than the national average. Hamptons linked this view with lower rental yields and reliance on borrowing in the capital. It also highlighted northern England, where its account associated larger portfolios with financing exposure. Those were the geographical arguments within the forecast, rather than confirmed results for every landlord in either region.
The source also discussed house prices and inflation-adjusted changes. That introduced another separate measure: a property's capital value is different from monthly rent and from the income remaining after costs. Combining all three into a single claim of prosperity or hardship would obscure the assumptions being made.
Aneisha Beveridge, Hamptons’ head of research, attributed the expected pressure on rents to supply problems and higher owner costs. Her comments were an interpretation of the conditions at the time. They did not demonstrate that every rent change followed an identical cause or that each business faced the same financial position.
Read historically, the report illustrates why a forecast needs a date, a measure and a clear account of its assumptions. Rent growth, financing costs and property values can move differently. The September 2023 projections remain an archive of expectations, rather than current investment guidance or a statement of what subsequently happened.