First-time buyers who can't yet afford to buy will be dealt a further blow with rent rises of as much as 8% expected, according to Savills.

The estate agent is predicting further rises of 8% across the most desirable London locations and 7% in the most sought-after central zones. These rises follow average rent rises of 11.5% across the capital last year.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2011/fe ... icted-2011

I cant see it happening for most of the country, Wages are barely keeping pace and housing benefit is being cut so many will find things very difficult. What I suspect will happen is that wages demands will pile on the pressure for the Bank of England to increase interest sooner rather than later. If rents do go up then the problems will only increase as housing benefit will climb as the threshold will move up as a result. Though it could also mean a lot more empty properties as tenants move. If the rents are too high then no one can afford them. Where I live the rents are constrained by the fact that commuting will be costly and it might encourage more people to share. Then rents will fall. If interest rate drive up rents then the problem is that many landlords might struggle to fill the places and so lose money.