London Rental Demand Plummets

All regions of London are experiencing significant drops in rental demand, research from flatshare site SpareRoom has found. West Central London has seen the biggest drop in demand at -43%, followed by East Central (-39%) and West London (-26%). Ipswich (86%), Warrington (84%) and Northampton (82%) are experiencing the biggest increases in rental demand year-on-year. Read more on the Property Wire website.

https://www.propertywire.com/news/london-rental-demand-plummets/ 

Rental Market Reveals UK Divide Between Affluent And Deprived Areas

 Britain’s rental market has diverged since reopening after the Covid-19 lockdown, with the number of homes in affluent areas being let increasing, while activity in deprived neighbourhoods has sharply dropped. Research by Hamptons International showed that in 10% of the wealthiest neighbourhoods, the number of homes let between May and September was up by 1.3% on last year. Meanwhile, new instructions rose by 4%. In contrast, in the bottom 10% instructions fell by 17.7% over the year, and the number of homes let was down by 14.8%. Read more on the Guardian website.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2020/oct/12/british-rental-market-picks-up-in-affluent-areas-but-drops-in-deprived-coronavirus

Five Years Before Housing Market Recovers From Coronavirus – Claim

The market could take five years to recover from the Coronavirus crisis after possible double-digit percentage price falls and fast-increasing repossessions. That’s the bleak assessment of a peer-to-peer lending platform, Sourced Capital, which has analysed property market data from past recessions in a bid to estimate - very crudely - what might emerge from the current crisis. It suggests that the early 1980s recession lasted for over a year and produced a four-fold rise in repossessions. The platform says the property market nonetheless remained resolute where house prices were concerned at least, with an increase of 8.6 per cent. Read more on the Estate Agent Today website.

https://www.estateagenttoday.co.uk/breaking-news/2020/4/five-years-before-housing-market-recovers-from-coronavirus--claim

Stats Show UK Rental Market ‘Remains In Recession’

The UK rental market remained in recession during the third quarter of 2018 (Q3 2018) according to latest figures from the Deposit Protection Service (DPS). In its new Rent Index – based on a database of millions of properties across the UK –the DPS reports that average rents decreased for the third consecutive quarter in Q3 2018, falling from £764 to £761. The Index also shows that average UK rent has now decreased £14, or 1.83%, since Q3 2017 and is now lower than the national average for 2016. Read more on 24housing.

https://www.24housing.co.uk/news/dps-stats-show-uk-rental-market-remains-in-recession/

Return Of The Accidental Landlord

Tens of thousands of homeowners have become accidental landlords in the last year, as homes in the notoriously expensive South East and London struggle to sell. Around 80,000 homes formerly for sale in the previous six months have come up in the rental market this year, research from estate agent Countrywide reveals. The decision by owners to keep hold of properties and let them, in order to move home, has come despite a tax crackdown on buy-to-let - and Countrywide said one in 12 homes available in the rental market has previously been up for sale. Read more on the Daily Mail website.

Alarming Decline in Homes for Rent

The UK property rental market has seen a worrying slump of 11.6% in available stock over the last six years. Scotland has seen the most dramatic fall, with a 34.7% decrease in available properties to rent between July 2011 and June 2017. In Wales over the same period there has been a fall of 28.1% while the South West has seen a decline of 26.5%.In total, seven out of 11 UK regions saw a fall in excess of the UK-wide average. This includes a decrease of 24.6% in the East Midlands, a fall of 20.8% in the South East and a drop of 16.7% in the West Midlands. The supply of available stock in East Anglia has dropped by 11.9% since 2011. Read more on the Housingnet website.

Liberal Democrats Back More Build To Rent

A Liberal Democrat spokesman has outlined his party’s support for a range of private rental initiatives including Build To Rent and the proliferation on online reviews about properties available to let. Lord Shipley says Lib Dems “want a rental market that is fair for tenants and fair for landlords” - but that allows responsible landlords to run their businesses as they wish.  “So whilst we can and should take all possible steps to ensure that tenants are well-treated by their landlords and that the houses they rent are of appropriate standard, we must also make sure that landlords don’t get taken for a ride by their tenants” he writes.  Read more on the Letting Agent Today website.

Almost Half Of Landlords To Quit By 2020 Says AXA

Tax relief for landlords began to be phased out from 6 April 2017. AXA’s latest study of UK landlords reveals that far more believe they will be affected than Government estimates suggest, and almost half plan to quit the rental market by 2020, fearing they are being unfairly targeted. AXA’s research shows that more than 40 per cent of landlords believe they will be worse off as a result of the changes. This is despite the UK Government’s assurances that 82 per cent will not have any additional tax to pay. AXA found evidence that this change coming on top of a raft of legislation aimed at landlords in recent years means that almost half of private landlords will withdraw from the market by 2020. Read more on the ARLA website.

Landlords Looking Beyond London’s ‘Saturated’ Rental Market

London’s high-pressured rental market may be squeezing out demand, prompting landlords to look towards investment opportunities in areas beyond the capital, suggests research carried out for the National Landlords Association (NLA).  The organisation says its findings reveal that the central London rental market is “beginning to show signs of topping out” as tenant demand slides, and landlords look to higher yielding investment in other areas of the UK. According to the research, the number landlords reporting a rise in tenant demand over the past quarter has slipped almost 30% when compared to the same point last year – down to 17% from 45%. Read more on the NLA website.