The number of homes available for rent remains stuck 20-40% below pre-pandemic levels in most regions, fuelling competition and driving prices up, according to Zoopla.

In its latest Rental Market Report, the property portal suggests that the impact of higher mortgage rates on the sales market is likely to deliver better rental supply in the second half of this year, but only if mortgage rates remain at over 5.5% for much of the summer.

“The chronic imbalance between supply and demand continues to push rents higher but we expect increasingly stretched affordability will start to reduce the pace of rental growth into 2024,” Richard Donnell, executive director at Zoopla, said in a statement.