High rent prices in York mean people “can’t afford” to start families in the city, an estate agent said.

Monday, 2 December 2024 11:06

By Dylan Connell

It comes as provisional figures from the Office for National Statistics show the average private rent in York reached £1,104 per month in the year to October

– up nine per cent from £1,010 a year prior. The figure was also up 23 per cent from an estimated £894 a month five years ago.

Helen Jollands, business development manager at York-based Naish Estate Agents, told The Press the city’s housing shortage has pushed up rent prices.

“A lot of landlords are selling up,” she said. “Some of them will be selling up because they’re getting out of the business – they have decided it’s not as lucrative as it used to be.”

For “a lot of landlords”, Ms Jollands said, their mortgages have increased so they have increased rent for their tenants as a result.

“When you have got that situation, you end up with landlords selling.”

She admitted that there are landlords in York who don’t have mortgages and people are still looking to invest in property in the city. “They are still there, there are just less of them.”

Across Yorkshire and The Humber, the average rent was £801 – rising six per cent from the year before.

York had the highest rental cost in the region, while the lowest was in North East Lincolnshire at £574.

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