ONS data released this week shows that rents have increased by 4.7% over the last year

Robust rents. ONS data released this week shows that rents have increased by 4.7% over the last year - which is below the rate of inflation, of course. If this seems lower than some other stats, it’s because the ONS includes ongoing tenancies (where rents tend to rise more slowly) whereas Rightmove and Zoopla only measure new lets.