Your Move has reported that rents in England and Wales have increased by 2.5% in the last year.

The average rent is now £829 per month.

While the strongest growth has been seen in southern areas in recent years, rents in the North West and East Midlands grew faster than anywhere else in the last year, with the typical monthly rent in these regions 2.9% higher than 12 months ago.

Across England and Wales rents (seasonally adjusted) grew by 2.5% in the year to January, reaching an average of £853. Prices have risen in eight out of the 10 regions surveyed. London and the North East were the only regions to see a fall.

This headline figure of £829 masks stark regional differences. London, the most expensive region, boasted an average monthly rent of £1,276 compared to £534 in the North East.

Looking at the data on a non-seasonally adjusted basis, the average rent for all of England and Wales this month was £829 – 3.4% higher than a year ago.

The North West and East Midlands were the regions with the fastest growing rents in the year to January 2018, Your Move found.

Prices in the North West – which includes major cities like Liverpool and Manchester, plus rural areas of Cheshire and Lancashire – rose by an average of 2.9% in the last year. The typical rent now stands at £636.