UK rents have risen by 8% over the last year

Meanwhile, flatsharing among the over-40s is on the increase

Two bedroom flat to rent at Beaufort Court, Atlantic Wharf, Cardiff CF10. On with Northwood UK at £650 pcm (£150 pw)

The number of new rental properties coming onto the market is up by six per cent over the last 12 months, says a new report.

Figures from Sequence, whose network includes Barnard Marcus, William H Brown and Fox & Sons, also indicates that national monthly rents rose eight per cent between December 2012 and December 2013 to £763, in spite of a drop of two per cent compared to November.

The number of new tenancies agreed also increased over the last year, by 13 per cent.

"There is a common misconception that when the sales market is booming the rental market lags behind, but our figures disprove that theory entirely," said Stephen Nation, Head of Lettings for Sequence. " Indeed, this strong growth in supply is carrying on into 2014, with the first two weeks of the year seeing a 6.5 per cent increase in new properties available to rent. Demand is continuing to keep pace with supply so I would predict the number of transactions to increase significantly as the year progresses."

Meanwhile, Spareroom.co.uk says that it has seen a rise in over-40s flatsharing, with one in eight wanted ads on its site now coming from this age group. According to Matt Hutchinson at Spareroom, that equates to 60,000 over-40s looking for rooms in the past year, up from 40,000 five years ago. The average age of people looking for a room on SpareRoom is just over 28.