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

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.”

Helen Jollands, business development manager at York-based Naish Estate AgentsHelen Jollands, business development manager at York-based Naish Estate Agents (Image: Supplied) 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.

In October, the average private rent in Great Britain was £1,307 per month. This was £105, or nine per cent, higher than 12 months ago.

'It's a vicious circle'

Ms Jollands said the high rent prices in York have resulted in “tenants paying more for a small property” because “it’s all they can afford”.

“People are paying more than half their wage on rent,” she said, adding that this comes on top of higher prices for energy due to the rise in the cost of living.

As a result, she said people have been put off starting families in York.

“You end up with people not having kids because they can’t afford to house them and, therefore, can’t afford a family. It’s a vicious circle.”

Ms Jollands feels lower interest rates and stamp duty are the way out of this “vicious circle”, as well as more houses being built.

The Chancellor Rachel Reeves, in her budget, announced that the higher rate paid on additional properties would rise from three per cent to five per cent from October 31.

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Meanwhile, Ms Jollands said landlords in York are “worried” about the reforms under the Renters’ Rights Bill, which introduces safeguards for tenants.

The Bill aims to end no-fault evictions, put tenants in a stronger position to challenge unreasonable rent increases and place restrictions on landlords to ensure they can only raise rent once a year at the market rate.

It would also remove fixed-term tenancies which Ms Jollands said “gives no security to landlords”.

She said landlords are concerned that tenants will not stay in the property for a year.

And this, Ms Jollands said, could mean landlords would have to pay to remarket the property more than once a year, should the tenant move out.

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