In the 12 months up to July, the private rental prices paid by UK tenants have increased by 5.3%, the largest change in yearly percentages since records began being kept in 2016, according to data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

It was a 5.2% increase over the previous month, and part of a consistently increasing pattern of costs extending back two years.

Annual private rental prices increased by 5.2% in England, 6.5% in Wales, and 5.7% in Scotland according to the ONS data.

In England, the West Midlands, Yorkshire and the Humber, and London all registered the highest annual increase in private rental prices, coming in at 5.5%, while the lowest was in the North East, which registered 4.6%.

House price growth was also slowing, according to the data, increasing 1.7% over the 12 months ending at June, a decrease from the 1.8% increase in May, and substantially below the peak of 14% seen in July of last year.

The report found that in June, the average price of a house in the UK was £288,000 ($368,000). Average house prices grew at an annual rate of 1.9% to $391,000 in England, by 0.6% to $272,000 in Wales, and by 2.7% to $222,000 in Northern Ireland. Scotland saw house prices stay essentially unchanged at $241,000.

The head of housing market indices at the ONS Aimee North said, “Annual house price inflation, measured using final transaction prices, slowed again in June, but the fall was gentler than we have seen in previous months.”

Demand for homes has plummeted, after the market saw mortgage rates hit the highest rates in 15 years last month following a series of interest-rate hikes by the Bank of England, as it has attempted to rein in spiraling inflation which has led to a persistent cost of living crisis in the nation.