Private sector rent statistics: 2010 - 2021

Broad Rental Market Area Profile – Aberdeen and Shire

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.

The average (mean) 2 bedroom rent in Aberdeen and Shire in 2021 was £649 per month, lower than the Scotland average of £693, and which is a reflection of rents in Aberdeen and Shire falling since 2014 due to the downturn in the oil industry, and remaining relatively stable from 2018 onwards while the Scotland average has increased each year over this time period.

Average rents in Aberdeen and Shire in the latest year compared to the previous year have showed little change for 1 bedroom (-0.5%), 2 bedroom (0.0%) and 1 bedroom shared properties (0.2%), with a drop in the average rent for 3 bedroom properties (-2.1%) but an increase in the average rent for a 4 bedroom property (7.2%), which compares to CPI inflation of 1.5% across this time period.

This follows decreases between 2015 and 2017 in average rents across all property size categories, likely to be due to decreased demand for rental properties following the downturn in the oil industry. Average rents in 2021 are still higher than in 2010 except for 1 bedroom properties, for which rents are now 13.9% lower than in 2010. For 4 bedroom properties, rents in 2021 are 39.8% higher than in 2010, which is higher than CPI inflation (24.3%) over this period.

For 3 and 4 bedroom properties, greater increases at the top end (upper quartile) than the bottom end (lower quartile) between 2012 and 2014 caused the gap between the top and bottom ends to widen. This gap has since narrowed, although it slightly increased again in 2021 for 4 bedroom properties.