Bad news for tenants – rents in London have hit another record high, with the average now a whopping £1,204 per month.

This figures has increased by 7.8 per cent over the year to April, according to a study by estate agents Your Move and Reeds Rains.

Private sector rents across England and Wales have leapt to a new all-time high of £774 a month on average.

Nationally, rents jumped by 4.6 per cent in April compared with a year earlier, marking the fastest annual increase recorded since November 2010.

Adrian Gill, director of Your Move and Reeds Rains, said: "Rents are going skywards and still accelerating."

He said the upward momentum is being fuelled by a shortage of properties for tenants to choose from and signs of renewed wage growth.

Mr Gill warned: "People have more money in their pockets, but we're in danger of seeing that recovery squandered away on a housing shortage."