South Yorkshire Rents Are Rising Up to Nine Times Faster Than House Prices

Across South Yorkshire, the cost of renting is rising far faster than the cost of buying. The latest official figures show private rents in all four boroughs climbing between 5.1% and 6.1% a year, while house prices have risen between 0.6% and 3.8%. In Sheffield and Rotherham, rents are rising around eight to nine times faster than prices.

The figures, borough by borough

• Barnsley: average price £173,053, up 2.0%. Average rent £664 a month, up 5.4%.
• Doncaster: average price £172,770, up 3.8%. Average rent £677 a month, up 5.8%.
• Rotherham: average price £191,052, up 0.7%. Average rent £678 a month, up 6.1%.
• Sheffield: average price £217,603, up 0.6%. Average rent £920 a month, up 5.1%.

For comparison, the average price in England was £293,525, up 0.4%.

What the gap means

When rents rise and prices stand still, two things happen. Renting families feel the squeeze first, and demand for good, well maintained homes to rent gets stronger. At the same time, the gap between what a house costs and what it earns widens in favour of anyone buying to let.

On the borough averages alone, gross yields sit between 4.3% in Rotherham and 5.1% in Sheffield. Those averages hide the real picture. Older terraced houses that need work sell well below the borough average, and once refurbished they let at or above it. That gap is where buy, refurbish, refinance works in South Yorkshire.

A real example

A tired Rotherham terrace was bought for £71,000, refurbished for £20,500 and valued at £130,000 afterwards. It now lets for £850 a month, well above the Rotherham average, with under £5,000 of the investor's money left in after the refinance. Read the full case study.

The caution

Flat prices cut both ways. An end value cannot rely on the market rising, so it has to come from cautious sold prices of genuinely similar houses. And not every cheap house is a good one: here is one I walked away from after the viewing.

My view

I was born and raised in Barnsley and I source buy, refurbish, refinance opportunities across all four boroughs. Rising rents with steady prices is the clearest sign in years that South Yorkshire's older housing needs investment, and that investors who buy carefully, refurbish properly and let at fair rents are needed here.

Your next step

If you are weighing up South Yorkshire, get your free Personalised Property Plan: a short form, then a call with me about your budget, goals and the areas that suit you. Free, and no obligation.

Sources: House prices from the UK House Price Index for August 2026 (HM Land Registry and ONS, published 21 October 2026), annual change on August 2025. Rents from the ONS Price Index of Private Rents, January 2026, annual change on January 2025. Area averages, not specific properties. The Rotherham example is a past opportunity and is not a guide to future results.