THE cost of renting has jumped by more than £3,000 in just three years and is expected to rise further in 2025, according to new research.

Home search website Zoopla said renters now face an average annual cost of £15,240, up about £270 per month since the end of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021.

The annual cost of renting has rocketed by 27 per cent since then, compared with a 19 per cent rise in average income over the same period.

Rightmove has also predicted that the average price tag on a home will increase by 4 per cent by the end of 2025.

Campaign groups have called on the government to strengthen the forthcoming Renters’ Rights Bill to provide more protection for renters.

Renters’ Reform Coalition policy and public affairs manager Lucy Tiller said: “Everybody needs a secure home, but every week shocking rent hikes such as these are forcing families out of their homes and communities.

“The forthcoming Renters’ Rights Bill is welcome, but it won’t address this crisis.

“The government should commit to a National Rental Affordability Commission, to find ways to put the brakes on soaring rents and a cap on rent increases within tenancies, to help tenants stay in their homes.”

Generation Rent chief executive Ben Twomey said: “The government’s Renters’ Rights Bill is a good start in giving renters more protection from eviction, but there are very few measures in the Bill to give us the breathing space we need from the cost of renting.

“The government must act urgently to slam the brakes on rising rents, whilst unfreezing the Local Housing Allowance rate will protect families on low incomes from poverty and homelessness.”