Renting a home in the South West has risen by more than two percent in the last year, according to industry experts.
The trend is underpinned by would-be buyers continuing to struggle to get a foot on the property ladder according to the residential letting survey by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors.
RICS chiefs said that with problems affecting the sales market it is "perhaps unsurprising" the trend looks poised to continue.
The organisation reports predictions from the industry that rents will continue to grow by a further 2.5 per cent over the coming 12 months.
Rent increases in the South West are said to be strengthened by a reduction in the number of good quality houses or flats for tenants to move into.
In the three months to July, the amount of new properties in the region fell while demand continued to grow, according to the RICS.
Alison Whitfield, of Exeter estate agents and chartered surveyors Whitton and Laing, said the market continued to be "very buoyant".
She said: "The stigma that used to be attached to rental property seems to have gone and more and more people are wishing to be tenants rather than homeowners and this looks set to continue for the long-term.
"The rental sector, whether you are a landlord or a tenant is currently a good place to be, especially in the South West where property values are relatively high and often tenants can afford to rent a much larger, better quality property than they could afford to buy.
"This demand continues to fuel the ever growing market as, although rents have increased slightly over recent years, they are fairly static in comparison to sales values.
"Another reason the rental market continues to grow as people are looking for less financial risk in these tough economic times."
A RICS spokesman said: "Unsurprisingly, with rental values steadily increasing in the South West, gross yields have continued to edge upwards during the early part of the year, with little change in the number of landlords in the region opting to sell their properties at the end of the tenancy."
However, Richard Copus, spokesman for the National Association of Estate Agents in Devon, said predictions rents would continue to rise was "a bit pessimistic".
He said: "There's no reason why rents should go up more. We've got plenty of houses coming on to the market to rent and houses are beginning to sell slowly."
