London rents are more than double the rest of the UK

The most popular region to rent a property in the UK in 2013 was Aberdeen

Four bedroom flat to rent in Marchmont Road, Edinburgh EH9. On with Grant Property for £900 pcm (£208 pw)

The current average asking price for rental properties in London is £1,516, claims a new report from Gumtree who say the average one bedroom flat is now £1,211 a month and two bedrooms £1,605 – over double the cost of the rest of the UK (£665).

Based on over half a million property listings on Gumtree.com between October 2012 and December 2013, the figures indicate that the best value properties are in County Antrim and North Lanarkshire where the average rent was £549 per month, followed by County Down (£553) and Lancashire (£561).

According to the study, the most popular region to rent a property in the UK in 2013 was Aberdeen, which averaged 17 replies for every property posted. Orpington was the most in-demand spot in London, with seven replies to every advert. The top five most in-demand spots were:

* Grassmarket, Edinburgh (25 replies per listing)

* Montpelier, Bristol (20)

* Bristol City (18)

* Hillhead, Glasgow

* Newington, Edinburgh

The last three monts of 2013 compared to the same period in 2012 saw the biggest rise in asking prices in Dundee (up by 13 per cent) and Swansea (11 per cent). Cumbria saw the biggest drop, down by 24 per cent on average.

Gumtree is also launching its new Rentsmart tool which uses prices from over 100,000 rental properties listed on the site every month to provide users with rental price trends.