Rent in Carmarthenshire rose 5% over the past year, new figures show.

While annual growth in rental prices across Great Britain has been slowing, campaign group Generation Rent warned "rents continue to rise faster than our wages" and urged the Government to act on rent increases.

Provisional figures from the ONS show the average private rent in Carmarthenshire reached £644 per month in the year to August – up 5% from £613 a year prior.

It was also up 31% from an estimated £492 a month five years ago.

Rent Officers Wales, which is part of the Housing and Regeneration Division of the Government, collects prices from landlords and letting agents, with the aim to collect data for approximately 15% of the market.

Across Wales, the average rent was £811 – rising 8% from the year before.

Cardiff had the highest rental cost in the country at £1,138 per month, while the lowest was in Powys at £570.

The average private rent in Great Britain was £1,360 per month in August. While this was £73, or 5.7%, higher than 12 months ago, this annual growth rate was down from 5.9% in the 12 months to July.

Ben Twomey, Generation Rent chief executive, said: "Homes are the foundations of our lives, but rents continue to rise faster than our wages, swallowing more and more of our income.

"High rents push people into homelessness and trap them in temporary accommodation, they pull children into poverty and prevent people from saving for the future.

"We rightly have caps on our energy and water bills, but the same protections don’t exist to stop landlords from pricing us out of our homes.

"The Government can and must act through devolving powers to Mayors to limit rent increases in their areas."

Separate ONS figures published earlier this week show a rise in total wage growth including bonuses to 4.7% in the quarter to July, up from 4.6% in the three months to June.

The provisional figures also show the different costs for various homes in Carmarthenshire, from £469 for a one-bed property to £946 for a home with four or more bedrooms in August.

Among the property types in the area:

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government spokesperson was contacted for comment.