Fall in rental market activity recorded in October

Rental market activity slowed during October, according to new data released from Agency Express.

Taking Britain as a whole, the number of new listings rose by 2.6% year-on-year, which was down from the 11.5% rise in new properties coming onto the market at the same period last year.

Ups and downs

The volume of properties actually let last month slipped by 6.3% over the same timeframe, almost on a par with data from the same month in 2015.

Eight of the twelve regions assessed by the Property Activity Index recorded growth in new listings to let, with only four regions seeing growth in properties let.

The top three regions experiencing rises in new properties to let were:

• East Midlands +20.4%
• West Midlands +13.4%
• Central England +12.4%

And in terms of properties actually let, the top three were:

• South East +12.7%
• Scotland +11.7%
• North East +7.9%

Scottish success

Overall, Scotland was the top performing region in October, seeing increases in new listings and properties let. While these increases are a record for the region, Agency Express warns that demand continues to outpace supply.

During the last three months, new listings north of the border fell by 1.7%. The largest declines however were in Yorkshire & Humberside, where new listings slipped by 3.6% and properties let fell by 14.1%.

Stephen Watson, managing director at Agency Express said: ‘As we look back at the historical data recorded by the Property Activity Index, we can see over the last three years October has been a buoyant month for new rentals across the UK lettings market. However, this year the figures paint a different picture, evident by the drop in supply.’[1]

‘Historical trends within the indices also indicate that we should not see a decline in figures until December, but with the current rate of change it will be interesting to see what November and December’s data brings,’ he added.[1]

[1] https://www.landlordtoday.co.uk/breaking-news/2016/11/rental-supply-slows-in-october