The UK’s most expensive city to rent ouside of London has been revealed, and furious locals say they’re being priced out. The pretty city of St Albans has been found to have the most expensive average rent prices in the UK after the capital.

Analysis by Rightmove showed that the average advertised rent is £2,307 per calendar month, an astonishing 71% above the national average. This is an increase of 33% since 2019, when the city’s average rent was £1,738. Locals have said that this increase is pushing them out of their home towns in favour of wealthier London commuters.

One told the Express: “This is St Alban's, there's always a rising increase in rent, and that's why many people I grew up with were forced to move away."

Another said: “I’m being forced out of my rented home of five years. The landlord has put the rent up every year, obviously I can't afford that, so I'm out.

“Trying to find somewhere new to live has been a nightmare. Many places, even one going for £1,400 per month in the village of Wheathampstead, want a minimum annual income of at least £42,000. It's just insane.”

Ron Cole, director at Collinson Hill, an independent estate agents in St Albans, said that there has been a “gradual increase” in rent over the years but said it hasn’t been very “noticeable”.

He added: “When you look at it on a wider scale, that's a lot of money to live in the area, There has been a reasonably fast increase over the last few years, especially since Covid with people moving out of London.”

Mr Cole, who has been in the industry for more than 20 years, said he didn’t think locals were being priced out. His firm sees lots of internal moves, people staying within the city and close to family.

And not all locals think that the rents are too high. One person said: “We moved out of London because our rent was being increased by £600 a month. Although St Albans is not cheap, we pay less now for more space.”

A landlord claimed that the total annual rent in St Albans is around 4% the actual cost of a house there. He said that landlords in other areas charge a higher percentage but their overall rent is less because the price of the property is lower.

Mr Cole said that the area’s popularity is primarily due to its proximity to London. He dded: “Other cities like Manchester and Liverpool are great. But we're a beautiful city, culturally diverse with a range of property types and easy access to the capital.

“It’s a great opportunity to be close and still be able to get into a city job a couple times a week. But St Albans is somewhere people want to bring up a family, the educational standards are really high. People are also moving for safety and access to open spaces. St Albans is somewhere you can feel better off in and set your own pace.”