Private sector rent statistics: 2010 - 2021

Broad Rental Market Area Profile – Highland and Islands

Note in the following text and charts that average rents that have changed within +/- 0.5% could be considered as being fairly similar to previous periods.

Average (mean) 2 bedroom rents in Highland and Islands have been lower than the Scotland average in each year since 2010, with the average rent in 2021 being £612 per month, compared to the Scotland average of £693.

Between 2020 and 2021 average rents have increased for 2 bedroom (0.8%), 3 bedroom (1.4%) and 4 bedroom (1.2%) properties, whilst average rents have shown little change for 1 bedroom (0.2%) and 1 bedroom shared properties (0.2%), which compares to CPI inflation of 1.5% across this time period. Although some caution is needed when interpreting the changes over time for the 4 bedroom property size category, given the smaller sample numbers for this category.

Between 2010 and 2021, avearge rents have increased for all property size categories, ranging from an increase of 19.0% for 1 bedroom properties to an increase of 32.9% for 1 bedroom shared properties, which compares to CPI inflation of 24.3% across this time period.

For all property sizes there have generally been slightly greater increases at the top end (upper quartile) than the bottom end (lower quartile) of the market between 2010 and 2021, which has resulted in a widening gap between top and bottom ends of the market.