Rents are set to increase at a faster rate than house prices over the next five years, a report predicts.
Across Britain, Savills expects property values to increase by 13% by the end of 2021, with Brexit negotiations leading to flat house price growth in the near-term.
The dampened activity in the housing market will lead to more demand in the rental sector, which will in turn push rents higher, according to the forecast.
Average rents are expected to increase by 19% by the end of 2021 - and by 24.5% in London, where getting on the property ladder is particularly difficult, the report said.
The renewed pressure on rental prices will be caused by would-be first-time buyers being forced to rent as housing market conditions get tougher as well as recent tax changes for buy-to-let investors, which may put investors off buying rental properties and suppress the levels of homes in the private rented sector, according to Savills' predictions.
Savills expects house price growth to be largely flat over the next two years as Brexit negotiations leave home buyer sentiment "fragile".
But expectations that interest rates will remain low for some time yet, keeping borrowing costs cheap, should prevent house prices from falling across the country generally, it said.
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