Private sector rent statistics: 2010 - 2020

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) rents in the Highlands and Islands have increased for all property sizes between 2019 and 2020, with increases seen for 1 bedroom (3.2%), 2 bedroom (1.1%), 3 bedroom (0.1%), 4 bedroom (1.6%), and 1 bedroom shared properties (2.7%), which compares to CPI inflation of 0.5% across this time period. Average rents have increased for all property sizes between 2010 and 2020, ranging from an increase of 18.8% for 1 bedroom properties to an increase of 32.6% for 1 bedroom shared properties. This compares to CPI inflation of 21.5% 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 2020, which has resulted in a widening gap between top and bottom ends of the market.

Average 2 bedroom rents have been lower than the Scotland average in each year since 2010, with the average rent in 2020 being £607 per month, compared to the Scotland average of £689.1