The UK rental market is splitting decisively along regional lines, with fresh data confirming what many landlords and letting agents have suspected for months: the era of uniform, nationwide rent inflation is over. Affordability pressures are now acting as a hard ceiling in some cities while barely registering in others, producing a two-tier market that will demand far more sophisticated strategy from buy-to-let investors than the blanket rent-rise approach that served them well between 2021 and 2023.