May 2009 was the first time that rents have not shown a month-on-month decline since as far back as August 2008, according to Findaproperty.com.
Average asking rents remain unchanged at £819 pcm, but are still 5.5% lower than May 2008 when rents stood at £867 pcm.
The house and flat markets continue to polarise, with houses experiencing a fall in supply for the third consecutive month and a modest rise in rents, while flats continue to suffer from rising supply and falling rents.
In May 2009, the average time a property to rent was on the market was 65 days, 16 days longer than May 2008.
Asking rents rose in 23 of 33 London boroughs, with the Capital experiencing a month-on-month rise of 0.4 per cent.
This took the average rent from £1,623 pcm in April 2009 to £1,630 pcm in May 2009.
All regions continue to suffer from year-on-year declines in asking rents, but there are early signs of recovery with month-on-month rental growth in the South East (0.7 per cent), Scotland (0.9 per cent) and West Midlands (0.3 per cent).
UK rental yield fell slightly to 4.56 per cent in May 2009 from 4.60 per cent in April 2009, with average yields now standing at 4.31 per cent for UK houses and 5.25 per cent for UK flats.
Andrew Smith, head of research at FindaProperty.com, said: "A slowing in the increase of supply and signs that asking rents are beginning to stabilise indicate that we may be close to the bottom of the market.
"However, the house and flats markets continue to polarise, with houses starting to show a sustained recovery thanks to falling supply levels and rising prices, while the flat market seems to be lagging behind with increasing supply levels and asking rents that continue to fall."
