Demand from tenants soared last month – but supply of properties fell, and rents rose.
ARLA Propertymark says that in January, tenancy demand rose to an all-time high with 88 prospective tenants registered per branch, up from 56 in December.
Measured year-on-year, demand was up by 21%.
However, the number of rental properties managed per branch slipped from 206 in December to 191 last month, slightly less than the 197 per branch in January last year.
Four in ten (42%) of letting agents reported rent rises, compared with 32% in December, and 26% in January last year.
ARLA chief executive David Cox said: “These results are a huge blow for tenants.
“With demand increasing by more than half, but rental supply falling, rent costs are unsurprisingly being pushed up.
“Our recent research found that tenants could miss out on nearly half a million properties as more landlords exit the traditional private rented sector and turn towards short-term lets, which will only serve to worsen the problem for those seeking longer term rental accommodation.
“With the Budget around the corner, it’s important that the Government works to make the private rented sector attractive to landlords again, rather than introducing complex legislation which ultimately squeezes the sector and leaves tenants worse off.”
Comments (5)
As a small Landlord who also happens to be an Agent I made a difficult decision last year to sell my BTL. As a Landlord who has invested in the property and maintained the same over 20 years dealing with a difficult Tenant proved how little real action I was able to take – it was a challenging learning curve with an awkward canny Tenant.
It is time that the press realised how much Landlords tolerate and the fact that many like me are not major Landlords. Shelters/ press continual bashing and vilifying of private Landlords needs to be brought to an abrupt halt and far more realisation that without private Landlords our already teetering housing crisis could be far worse.
There are many good tenants out there but it only takes one extreme case for even the best of us to admit defeat and without a fair legal system not continually in favour of Tenants for the steady drip of Landlords to keep leaving. The loss of S21 is going to be a disaster.
These results should not be a huge blow for tenants it is what they and Shelter have been pushing for. Welcome to the real world.
Look back to PIE a couple of years ago when poster after poster was predicting this would happen but no, of course they know best. This government, Shelter and Gen Rent have conspired to demonise private landlords which is fine if there is a reasonable alternative out there.
There isn’t.
Full impact of osbourne’s s24 and may’s abolition of s21 are drivers of change to short term let’s and landlords leaving the market. The Politicians are too stupid to see this despite the history of the Rent Act 1977 lesson.
If only letting agents predicted this!!
This government are ****** stupid
Add the fee ban as another reason rents have risen
Was all so ****** obvious and the ones who are losing out are tenants
Idiots