Average rent in Cardiff (2026)

Data as of July 2026 · computed by Flatscout from live cross-portal listings and official open data

Cardiff is Wales' dominant rental market — Cathays and Roath absorb the student demand, Cardiff Bay supplies the new-build flat stock, and Canton and Pontcanna carry the professional premium, all at rents well below comparable English capitals-of-region.

Cardiff currently has 1,786 live rental listings across the portals Flatscout tracks — Rightmove, Zoopla and SpareRoom — with a median asking rent of £1,200 a month for a whole property. Rooms in shared homes start lower, and the by-postcode table below shows how much the same budget buys in different corners of the city.

Everything on this page is computed from listings Flatscout scrapes and de-duplicates around the clock, joined with official open data: the ONS Price Index of Private Rents for the long-run trend, ONS earnings data for affordability, police.uk street-level crime, VOA council-tax bands, Ofcom broadband coverage, and EPC certificates matched to the homes actually being advertised right now. Figures refresh continuously — the numbers below were last computed in July 2026.

If you're actively hunting, the data has one practical message: well-priced Cardiff rentals go in hours, not days. Flatscout watches every portal and can alert you by email, WhatsApp or Telegram within minutes of a matching listing appearing — before most renters have refreshed the app.

Rent by bedrooms in Cardiff

Median monthly asking rent by bedrooms, Cardiff
BedroomsMedian rentAvailable
Studio£995/mo61
1 bed£930/mo531
2 bed£1,250/mo491
3 bed£1,500/mo134
4+ bed£2,300/mo228
Room in shared home£600/mo341

Rent by postcode district

Median monthly rent by outcode (3+ listings each), Cardiff
OutcodeMedian rentListings
CF14£1,275/mo95
CF10£1,250/mo353
CF3£1,250/mo33
CF11£1,200/mo184
CF23£1,200/mo67
CF24£1,175/mo635
CF15£1,150/mo8
CF5£1,050/mo69

Official rent trend (ONS)

The ONS Price Index of Private Rents puts the average rent across ALL Cardiff tenancies at £1,162/mo in June 2026 — up 3.4% on a year earlier. In January 2020 it was £820/mo. The ONS average sits below asking-rent medians because it includes existing tenancies, not just newly advertised homes.

Affordability

Renting at the ONS average of £1,162/mo takes roughly 43% of the local median gross salary of £32,756 a year (ONS ASHE 2025). The conventional affordability threshold is 30%.

Property type mix

Gardens and parking

Of 1,786 live listings, 48% advertise a garden and 14% advertise parking. Portals under-report features, so treat these as a floor.

EPC energy ratings

EPC bands of live Cardiff rentals matched to certificates
BandListings
B2
C27
D33
E13

Council-tax bands

VOA council-tax stock of domestic properties, Cardiff
BandProperties
Band A5,320
Band B20,430
Band C34,920
Band D37,370
Band E31,540
Band F22,240
Band G10,610
Band H2,870
Band I1,490

Broadband

Residential premises coverage in Cardiff: 85% full fibre (FTTP), 94% gigabit-capable, 99% superfast (30 Mbit/s+) (Ofcom Connected Nations).

Crime

police.uk street-level data for May 2026: median 336 reported incidents per postcode district across 10 districts around the busiest rental postcodes. The most common category city-wide is violence and sexual offences (32% of reports).

Reported crimes by inner area, May 2026
AreaReports / 1,000 peopleMost common category
Canton27.9violence and sexual offences
Cardiff Bay37.6violence and sexual offences
Cathays46.7violence and sexual offences
City Centre89.8violence and sexual offences
Roath45.6violence and sexual offences

Where the listings come from

No single portal has every home — Flatscout merges and de-duplicates them all, so each property is counted once.

Renting in Cardiff, answered

What is the average rent in Cardiff?

The median asking rent in Cardiff is £1,200 per month for a whole property, based on 1,786 live listings tracked by Flatscout across Rightmove, Zoopla and SpareRoom (July 2026).

How many rental properties are available in Cardiff?

Flatscout is currently tracking 1,786 active rental listings in Cardiff, with 353 new listings added in the last 7 days. Listings from every portal are merged and de-duplicated, so each home is counted once.

How much is a one-bedroom flat to rent in Cardiff?

The median asking rent for a one-bedroom property in Cardiff is £930 per month, while a room in a shared home has a median of £600 (July 2026).

Is Cardiff safe for renters?

Across 10 postcode districts analysed, the median is 336 reported crimes per district per month, and the most common category is violence and sexual offences. Crime varies a lot street by street — data from data.police.uk (May 2026).

What share of income goes on rent in Cardiff?

Renting at the ONS average of £1,162/mo takes roughly 43% of the local median gross salary of £32,756 (ONS ASHE 2025). The conventional affordability threshold is 30%.

Average rent in other cities

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