The cost of renting a home in Bradford is falling, despite a rise nationally, new figures show.

Over the past year, rents have decreased in Bradford by about 0.3 per cent, or £17 per month, a report by the charity Shelter yesterday revealed.

The figures suggest the district is bucking both regional and national trends, which show rents rising faster than wages.

The cost of renting in Yorkshire and the Humber rose by by 2.7 per cent, or £15 a month, from 2011 to 2012, while average wages in the region rose by just 1.9 per cent in the same period.

And across England, rental costs rose by 2.8 per cent, the equivalent of £25 a month.

But one Bradford letting agent said he was seeing a very different picture to the figures given by Shelter.

Sheikh Mani Waheed, managing director of Bradford-based property agents Squarefoot Apartments, said rental yields for high-end properties had risen by as much as 10 to 20 per cent in a year.

He said: “My statistics are showing that our rents are going up and tenants are paying increased rents, so for instance a one-bedroom apartment at Lister Mills, which a year ago would have been £400 a month, is now £425 this year.

“The reason is the high-quality houses we’ve got in Bradford are still here, and they’re commanding high rents.”

He said he was telling his landlords that if they invested in the upkeep of their properties, they would see rental yields increase.