Online property letting portal Zoopla has stated that rental properties across the UK are being let on average a week faster that the same period in 2020. Explaining that this increased pace at which available rental opportunities are being snapped up off the market is due to the supply of such properties being far outstripped by the renewed demand seen in recent weeks.
This surge in demand for rental properties has seen available opportunities move into a new tenancy at the fastest rate since 2016, with lets spending an average of a mere 15 days on the market before a new agreement is signed and new tenants moved in.
The letting platform goes onto explain that Cities across the UK are showing the steepest increase in demand by renters, with Edinburgh showing the sharpest growth in demand since February 2021.
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Is There a Shortage of Rental Properties?
The lettings platform made predictions that the sheer demand being seen for rental properties in recent weeks will maintain the pressure on the short supply of available lets, subsequently fuelling stronger rental growth for the remainder of the year.
Zoopla’s head of research, Grainne Gilmore, stated that, “there has been a sharp rise in demand for rental properties in recent months, especially in central city markets, signalling the return of city life as offices and other leisure and cultural venues continue to open up more fully.”
Why Are There So Few Properties to Rent?
A recent report published by Goodlord in partnership with Vouch has shown that a shocking third of UK letting agents are expressing concern over the dwindling lack of listings. From the agents contributing to the findings, 83% stated that they know of a rental property owner that has left the PRS in the last 12 months, with a further 64% saying they believe more landlords will abandon the sector over the coming months.
The research also revealed that around half of letting agents stated that over 5% of their landlords had sold on their properties in the last 12 months, with 14% sharing that as many as a fifth of their landlords had left the rental sector.
This landslide of owners packing up shop, alongside the rocketing demand for city centre rental opportunities is fuelling the scarcity of available rentals. But what is contributing to the number of landlords choosing to leave renting behind? Goodlords’s study shows that owners pointed at the mounting red tape and legislative change drastically altering the industries landscape, alongside the recent stamp duty holiday.
Will Rent Go Down?
This renting boom has contributed to rents outside of London soaring at their fastest rate in over a decade, with the average price of renting a property in the UK now settling at £790. This is a startling increase, costing renters a further £456 each year. Online property platform Zoopla has reported that over the last 12 months, the costs of renting outside of the nation’s capital has risen by 5%, representing the sharpest increase since 2008.
However, London has been the exception to this national rise in the cost of renting a home, with costs across the nation falling by 3.8% each year, but with the exodus of renters witnessed in 2020 now returning to the city, prices are quickly showing signs of recovery.
Kate Eales of Strutt & parker told Zoopla, “Lack of stock and high demand are inevitably driving price growth. This stock depletion is a result in part of many accidental landlords having now sold their properties – benefiting from the soaring demand in the sales market.”
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