The Bank of England has blamed higher rents on more landlords than usual quitting the private rental market within its detailed quarterly report on the economy.

Its Agents’ Summary of Business Conditions report, which covers the period between July and August this year, highlights trading conditions across a range of sectors including housing compiled by its 12 regional representatives.

This is used in part by the bank’s Monetary Policy Committee to inform its interest rate decisions – the most recent of which was published yesterday revealing that its base rate would remain at 5.25% for another two months.

The agents’ report overall that economic activity remained subdued over the summer, and that “there were growing concerns about the outlook – most notably from contacts in consumer-facing businesses, but also from the business services sector”.