Rental Market Report: March 2026

As the rental market moves toward a new normal, the landscape for letting agents is shifting. For several years, abnormal market conditions created a surplus of enquiries across all marketing channels, leading many to see less value in letting applicant leads. 

However, with competition among renters hitting a 6-year low, the focus must now shift from quantity of leads to quality, alongside new landlord acquisition.

The era of inflated lead volumes is ending as demand-side pressures ease. This makes high-quality rental leads from Zoopla more critical than ever for agents looking to maintain a competitive edge.

This shift is being driven by two major factors:

1. Net migration has fallen sharply from 900,000 in 2023 to 200,000 this year, significantly reducing the pool of students and workers seeking private rental homes.

2. Improved lending conditions have enabled more renters to transition into homeownership, freeing up stock and cooling the frantic pace of the last 2 years.

The opportunity in the Renters’ Rights Act

With the Renters’ Rights Act taking effect on 1 May 2026, the industry faces its biggest regulatory shake-up in decades. Currently, around half of private landlords self-manage their properties, but the complexity of these new laws is a catalyst for change.

Our focus at Zoopla is on delivering high-quality leads that help estate agents grow their businesses - whether that’s winning instructions from landlords and sellers or generating quality enquiries from buyers and renters.

Many self-managing landlords are now reassessing how they manage their homes. This creates a clear opportunity for letting agents to demonstrate value beyond a simple tenant-find - particularly around compliance and navigating regulatory change. We expect more landlords to seek professional support, and our role is to connect those landlords with trusted agent partners.

Demand for rented homes eases as supply improves

The rental market is becoming more balanced as demand falls and supply improves. This is easing pressure on renters and slowing the pace of rent increases. Rents are still rising in most areas. However, the pace of growth is much slower than during the peak of the rental boom in 2023.

Download the Rental Market Report March 2026 (PDF, 379kB)

Demand for rented homes is falling 

Demand for rental homes is 14% lower than a year ago and the lowest level for 6 years. Lower migration is one reason for this change. Migration rose sharply after the pandemic and increased pressure on the rental market. More recently, migration for work and study has fallen back sharply, reducing the scale of competition for private rented homes. 

At the same time, improved mortgage conditions have helped more renters buy their first home. Three-quarters of first-time buyers are renters. When they move into home ownership, the homes they leave become available to rent again. This helps increase supply, boosts choice and reduces pressure on the pace of rental growth that has slowed to 1.9%, down from 2.8% a year ago.

More homes are becoming available to rent 

The number of homes available to rent has increased as demand has declined. There are 11% more homes for rent than a year ago. This comes from a combination of stronger first-time buyer demand freeing up homes that were previously rented as well as some sellers who can't sell their homes deciding to rent them out instead. 

While there are more homes for rent than a year ago, the number of homes for rent remains 23% below pre-pandemic levels. This means scarcity remains, which will see rents continuing to rise over 2026.

Competition for rental homes is reducing

Lower demand and more supply means the competition for rental homes has fallen since the peak of the market in 2022 and 2023. The number of enquiries per property has fallen to 4.8, down from 6.5 last year. This means fewer renters competing for each home. 

This is positive news for renters, although competition remains at double the pre-pandemic average, which means rents will continue to increase, albeit at a slower rate.

This reduction in competition means rented homes are taking longer to rent. The average time to find a tenant is now 20 days, compared with much faster lettings during the period of strong demand in 2022/23. For renters, this means more time to view properties and make decisions rather than needing to act quickly.

Rent increases are slowing, resetting affordability

Rental affordability remains a key factor shaping the market in addition to changes in demand and supply. Rents for new lettings rose quickly during 2022 and 2023, increasing at a much faster rate than the growth in household incomes, creating affordability problems for renters. 

Over the last 18 months, earnings have been rising faster than rents, which is starting to ease the affordability pressures facing renters.

Today, the annual rent for typical residential property outside London is 33.5% of gross annual earnings for a single person. This is down from over 35% in 2023 - the highest for 20 years - and declining towards the long run average of 33%. Affordability is worse in London but also improving since 2023. 

The improvement in rental affordability as earnings rise faster than rents, is a trend we expect to continue over 2026.

Rental trends vary widely across cities

The pace at which rents are rising varies across the UK depending on local trends in supply and demand, the affordability of renting and the extent to which access to home ownership has improved. 

Rental growth remains stronger in more affordable northern markets where rents are lower. Cities such as Liverpool, Newcastle and Glasgow are still recording stronger increases of 3% to 4.6%.

In contrast, rents are rising by less than 1% in several cities, while rents have fallen in some areas. These trends reflect weaker rental demand - fewer students, lower migration and a stronger first-time buyer market - rather than sustained investment in growing rental supply. Modest falls in rents are a short term and localised adjustments as the rental market becomes more balanced.

Outlook for the UK rental market

The UK rental market is continuing to stabilise as supply improves and demand weakens. Rents are expected to keep rising, but at a slower pace. We expect rents to increase by c.2-3% during 2026. Lower than expected levels of net migration mean rental growth may turn out weaker than expected.

For renters, this means the market is becoming less competitive than in recent years. More homes are available to rent, which is giving renters greater scope to negotiate on rents. 

It is important to highlight that this slowdown in rental growth is being driven by a cyclical slowdown in demand rather than a sustained expansion in rental supply. The number of homes in the private rented sector has changed little over the past decade, and levels of new investment remain modest. 

Increasing the supply of rental homes remains the most effective way to improve affordability for renters over the long term.

About the Zoopla Rental Index

Our Rental Market Index is a repeat transaction index, based on asking rents and adjusted to reflect achieved rents. The index is designed to accurately track the change in rental pricing for UK housing.

The Zoopla Rental Market Report is first published on Zoopla.co.uk.