Rents in Bristol increased at one of the fastest rates in the UK last year, new research has found.
According to the latest Zoopla Rental Market Report, in December 2019, people in Bristol pay on average £983 in rent per month.
That was up from £932 a year before, meaning average rents are 5.5 per cent higher than in December 2018 and put Bristol in the top 20 cities with the highest rental growth.
Bristol is also among the 20 cities with the highest percentage of earnings spent on rent.
On average, a single person spent nearly a third of their earnings on rent, the equivalent of 32.3 per cent.
Rents across the UK have increased by 2.6 per cent, from £864 in December 2018 to £886 in 2019, the research found, which is the biggest annual increase since July 2016.
Nottingham saw the biggest increase in the cost of renting nationally at 5.8 per cent.
That's followed by Bristol (5.5 per cent), York (5.0 per cent) and Leeds (4.4 per cent).
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Only three areas actually saw the cost of renting decrease - Aberdeen (-2.9 per cent), Middlesbrough (-1.1 per cent) and Coventry (-0.1 per cent)
At a national level, average earnings are growing faster than rents - an increase of 3.8 per cent - a trend that has been in place for the last three years meaning higher rental growth is not leading to a deterioration in rental affordability.
Londoners saw the biggest chunk of their earnings going on rents - an average of 51.9 per cent in December 201.
On the other hand, people in Middlesbrough spent the lowest proportion of their earnings on rent which was 15.1 per cent.
