Inbalance between supply and demand of rental properties has seen average asking rents in Liverpool hit another record of £897 per calendar month, rising 19.4% from the previous year.

This compares with the UK average rental price rise of 11.8% which gives an annual rental figure of £1,126 per calendar month.

Rightmove says that the size of this increase means rents outside of the capital are rising at the highest annual rate that they have ever recorded in 16 years of reporting - and are up by 19% (+£177) since the pandemic started two years ago.

Rising rents continue to be driven by a shortage of available rental stock, with low volumes struggling to meet high tenant demand over the past two years.

Although there is still a shortage of available homes to rent, there continues to be signs of this improving. The number of new rental listings is up 8% since the start of the year. June saw the highest number of new rental listings coming to market of any month this year so far.

Despite these encouraging signs, available rental stock is still down 26% compared to last year’s levels, while demand is up 6%, which means competition between tenants remains extremely fierce.

Joe Gervin, director and in-house solicitor at LPS Real Estate, said: “We’ve definitely noticed the strength of the rental market here in Liverpool. Two-bedroom apartments in city centre areas such as the Baltic Triangle are achieving rental prices of £1100 per calendar month and three-bedroom houses in areas such as Wavertree and Kensington are going for up to £800.

“The demand for all types of properties in all areas is huge. I’d say we’re getting an average of 90 enquiries for each property we list in the current market. We’re having to stop advertising properties sometimes after a day because of the sheer volume of enquiries we’re receiving.

“We’ve had applicants on the phone in tears because they simply can’t find a home to move into, but the stock just isn’t there. Tenants seem to be staying put for longer because they know what the market is like. One-bedroom apartments are virtually non-existent in the current rental market."

Affordability analysis from Rightmove shows that due to historically low-interest rates, average mortgage payments on properties with two bedrooms or fewer have risen by 13% in the last ten years, while equivalent rental payments on the same properties have risen by 40%.

Joe added: “Summer is generally our busier time and we are starting to see more properties coming available so hopefully this will start to even things out a bit and bring some good news to renters.”

In the current market, LPS advises anyone looking for a property to register to receive property alerts so they are first to know when a property matching their requirements has come available.