Majority Of Landlords Not Planning To Increase Rents In 2021

The National Landlord Index published by Accommodation.co.uk, has uncovered that the vast majority (90.2%) of landlords have a good relationship with tenants and 82% have also committed to not increasing rent in 2021. This new report highlights that many landlords are conscious of the financial difficulties the pandemic has caused their tenants and are aiming to keep rent as affordable as possible in 2021. Nearly a fifth (18%) of landlords, however, stated they would be increasing rent in 2021. Read more on the Property Wire website.

https://www.propertywire.com/news/majority-of-landlords-not-planning-to-increase-rents-in-2021/

Rents Rise Alongside Incomes During March

The latest rental index from Goodlord shows a buoyant lettings market in March. Tenant incomes rose across England, with rents increasing alongside. The average void period also stayed steady month on month. March brought a boost in average income for tenants in most regions. The biggest rise was recorded in the North West, where tenant incomes increased by 12% from £19,609 to £22,022 on average. The East Midlands, Greater London, North East, and South West also recorded increases. Read more on the Property Reporter website.

https://www.propertyreporter.co.uk/landlords/rents-rise-alongside-incomes-during-march.html

Half Of Renters Worried About Housing Situation

Half (50%) of renters have expressed anxiety about their housing situation, worrying about things like rent increases, landlords selling up, and becoming unemployed. The research, from Aldermore bank, found that two in five (41%) renters are worried about financial security. The pressure is felt significantly among 18- to 34-year-olds, with two in three (64%) admitting they are worried about their housing situation. Additionally, a further 20% of this age group have seen rent costs increase in their area since March. Read more on the Property Wire website.

https://www.propertywire.com/news/half-of-renters-worried-about-housing-situation/

Rent Increases Fall To All Time Low As Landlords Continue To Battle Pandemic

The latest data and analysis from ARLA Propertymark has revealed that the number of tenants experiencing rent increases fell to 14% during May – the lowest on record as landlords take the brunt of the pandemic. According to research, many landlords have chosen not to increase rents in an effort to recognise the financial difficulties facing many tenants as a result of the Covid-19 lockdown. As a result, the number of tenants experiencing rent increases fell to 14% in May – the lowest since records began. Read more on Property Reporter.

https://www.propertyreporter.co.uk/landlords/rent-increases-fall-to-all-time-low-as-landlords-continue-to-battle-pandemic.html

Rents: Coronavirus – Parliamentary Written Answer

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department has made an assessment of the feasibility of introducing a ban on rent increases for (a) social and (b) private rented housing for the duration of the covid-19 outbreak. 

Christopher Pincher: The Government have no plans to ban rent increases during the COVID-19 outbreak as we have already announced extensive measures to protect renters affected by coronavirus. All tenants remain liable for their rent and those who can afford to should continue to pay it. At the end of this period, if arrears have built up, landlords and tenants will be expected to work together to establish an affordable repayment plan, taking into account the tenants’ individual circumstances. For tenants in social housing, landlords will continue to work closely with residents to help them manage their rent and ensure they can access all benefits they are entitled to.

http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2020-03-23/33423

Tenants Face Rent Increase ‘Acceleration’ As PRS Demand Outstrips Supply

Tenants face an “acceleration” in rent increases over the next five years as a result of the demand for private rented housing outstripping supply. The Royal Institution for Chartered Surveyors (RICS) warns that, in the lettings market, the latest set of results – which form a part of non-seasonally adjusted series – are indicative of demand from prospective tenants rising firmly for an eighth month in a row. That’s a net balance of +22%. Alongside this, RICS says landlord instructions remain in decline. Read more on 24housing.

https://www.24housing.co.uk/news/tenants-face-rent-increase-acceleration-as-prs-demand-outstrips-supply/

UK Rents Increased By 1.3% In 12 Months To August

Rents paid by tenants in the private rented sector in the UK rose by 1.3% in the 12 months to August 2019, unchanged since May 2019, the latest official index shows. In England rents increased by 1.3%, in Wales they were up by 1.2% and in Scotland rents rose by 0.9%, according to the data published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Excluding London rents increased by 1.5% in the 12 months to August 2019, unchanged since January 2019 and in the capital they were up by 0.8%, the data also shows. Read more on the Property Wire website.

https://www.propertywire.com/news/uk/uk-rents-increased-by-1-3-in-12-months-to-august-2019/

Rents In UK Up Almost 5% In Second Quarter Of 2019

Rising rents, a doubling of tenant applications and a shortage of housing stock continues to put pressure on the Private Rental Sector in the UK, according to the latest lettings index report. Average rents reached £774 per month in the second quarter of 2019, up 4.5% compared to the same quarter in 2018, the data from the Belvoir index shows. Belvoir’s analysis of tenant applicant leads in June 2019 confirmed a dramatic increase in numbers when compared to those recorded in May 2019. Read more on the Property Wire website.

https://www.propertywire.com/news/uk/rents-in-uk-up-almost-5-in-second-quarter-of-2019/

Labour’s ‘Land Grab’

A report - ‘Land for the Many’: Changing the way our fundamental asset is used, owned and governed - produced for the Labour Party sets out recommendations around an issue - land is the hidden issue behind the housing crisis - which has huge implications for people who want affordable homes. The report is not yet Labour policy. The key proposals include;

·         free and open access to data on land ownership

·         an explicit government goal to stabilise house prices

·         reforms to private renting with a cap on rent increases

·         replace council tax with a progressive property tax payable by owners not tenants – with surcharges for empty and second homes and non-UK residents

·         phase out stamp duty land tax

·         enable public bodies to buy land at closer to current use value

Read more on Red Brick.

https://redbrickblog.wordpress.com/

Associations Stress-Test Over Fear Rent Settlement Will Change Post-Brexit

Housing associations are stress-testing for the possibility that the government will renege on a promise to allow plus-inflation rent increases after Brexit. The Bank of England’s worst-case scenario for a “disorderly” Brexit said that inflation could rise to 6.5%, which would be the highest level since 1991. Currently, housing associations’ rents are falling by 1% every year, thanks to a policy introduced by George Osborne at a time when associations had been promised rents would increase by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation plus 1%. The government has since pledged to return to the CPI plus 1% regime from 2020 but associations fear that a post-Brexit inflation hike could cause this to change. Read more on Inside Housing.

https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/associations-stress-test-over-fear-rent-settlement-will-change-post-brexit-60073?utm_source=Housing60&utm_medium=email&utm_content=article_link&utm_campaign=H60

Private Rents Have Risen Faster Than Pay Since 2011

Rising rents have outpaced wages across England since 2011, according to analysis from housing charity Shelter, which claims the crisis is spilling out of cities into “Middle England” towns such as Tunbridge Wells. The figures show that private rents have risen by 16% since 2011, outpacing average wages which have only risen by 10% over that period. Shelter analysed official data from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings and the Index of Private Housing Rental Prices. Read more on the Guardian website.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/aug/03/soaring-rents-rose-60-faster-than-pay-since-2011-shelter

London Rents Rise For First Time In Two Years As UK Growth Slows

Rent in London rose for the first time in nearly two years in June, increasing by 0.1 per cent to an average of £1,884 per month, according to the latest Landbay Rental Index. The figures show overall UK rental growth is continuing to slow down. Rents rose by 0.4 per cent in the first six months of the year, and went up by 0.54 per cent excluding the capital. Rental growth has been strongest in the East Midlands and the east of England so far this year, with increases of 0.95 per cent and 0.7 per cent respectively, while rents in the North East dragged the average down with a 0.08 per cent drop. Read more on the Independent website.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/london-rent-rises-uk-average-growth-slows-a8432621.html

100,000 Low-Cost Homes Have Had Rents Hiked Since 2012

Labour has unveiled plans to stem the loss of low-cost homes as new analysis reveals more than 100,000 social homes have been converted into a more expensive type of property in the last six years alone. The party said it would scrap a policy introduced by the Conservative-Lib Dem coalition government in 2012 that forces housing associations and local councils to raise rents by an average of 40 per cent by converting social homes into “affordable homes”. The announcement is the second to come out of Labour’s review into the future of social housing, which is likely to report in the coming weeks. Read more on the Independent website.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/labour-social-housing-policy-affordable-homes-100000-converted-coalition-government-a8256776.html

UK Rent Growth Halves During 2017

Average UK rents increased at less than half the rate during 2017 than 2016, The Deposit Protection Service (The DPS) has revealed in the latest edition of its Rent Index. According to the latest edition of the DPS rent index average UK monthly rent during 2017 increased by just 1.63% from £761.31 to £773.74 during 2017; half the rate of growth during 2016 (3.25% from £737.33). The slowdown was particularly pronounced in London, which saw the lowest increase in average rent of any British region, increasing by just £5.83 or 0.44% to £1,324.29 (from £1,318.46). Download the Rent Index from the DPS website.

http://www.depositprotection.com/documents/rentindexq42017.pdf

Pace Of Annual Rent Rises Now Lowest Since 2014

The average asking rent across the UK - excluding London - rose by just 0.7 per cent in 2017 according to figures released this morning by Rightmove. This is a much more muted increase than the annual rises recorded in 2015 when rents rose 3.7 per cent, and in 2016 when they increased by 3.0 per cent. Over the last three years tenants have therefore seen landlords increase asking rents by 7.6 per cent - around £50 per month on the typical rent. The asking rents of new rental properties coming to market in London are rising again, leading to the first increase in the annual rate of growth since the start of 2016. Read more on the Letting Agent Today website.

Warning Over Benefits Tempers Rent Settlement Optimism

Welfare reforms could leave some tenants struggling to pay higher rents once they begin rising in 2020, experts have warned, tempering some of the optimism about the recent rent deal. The announcement that social landlords will be able to raise rents by Consumer Price Index plus 1% for five years from 2020 was widely welcomed by the sector as a generous deal. However, some have warned that the forthcoming cap on benefits at Local Housing Allowance (LHA) levels, which is due to be imposed from April 2019, could create a shortfall between housing benefit and rents, leaving tenants having to cover the difference themselves. Read more on Inside Housing.

Low-Income Tenants Battle Soaring Rents

Low-income tenants are now spending an average of 28% of their wages on rent, up from 21% in the mid-1990s, new research indicates. They have been hit by substantial cuts to housing benefit, with government support expected to fall "further and further behind" the cost of housing, says the Institute for Fiscal Studies. Over the same period of time, the proportion of people renting homes privately has increased from 8% to 19%. Average private rents have gone up 33%. Download the report from the IFS website.

Young People Hit By Spending Squeeze As Falling Incomes And Rising Housing Costs Take Their Toll

Young people have experienced the tightest squeeze on household spending since 2000 and now consume 15 per cent less than older working age people on items other than housing, according to a new report by the Resolution Foundation. The finding of a consumption ‘youth deficit’ is in stark contrast to common claims that today’s young are spending like there’s no tomorrow and mark a major turnaround from the recent past when earlier generations experienced a ‘youth premium’. Consuming Forces  tracks the spending patterns of different age groups since the 1960s to see how changes in earnings and incomes have fed through into what people spend their money on from week to week. Read more on the Resolution Foundation website.

UK Rents Continue To Rise In August

Rents in the UK rose by an average of 2.4% during August, the highest rate of annual growth seen in the private rental sector this year. The average rent agreed on a new tenancy signed last month was £939 according to the August HomeLet Rental Index, compared to £916 in the same month of 2016. August’s increase in average rents was partly driven by a return to inflation in the London market, where rents agreed on new tenancies last month were 2.4% higher than in August 2016. Last month’s increase took the average rent in the capital to £1,609 – the first time rents in London have been above £1,600. Read more on the Homelet website.

Rent Rises Ahead As Landlords Pull Out Of UK Housing

Landlords are likely to pull out of the UK housing sector in the coming year owing to policy changes, surveyors say. Nearly two-thirds of surveyors asked by their trade body said more landlords would exit the market than join it in the coming year. Investors have been hit by changes such as a stamp duty surcharge. As a result, private rent rises were likely to outpace house prices in the next five years, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) found. Read more on the BBC.