The latest HomeLet Rental Index indicates that new tenancies taken on by single renters dropped over the last year. Instead, there has been a rise in families and people sharing rental accommodation.
Single slide
In the last year, tenants living in privately rented accommodation alone made up 33% of new tenancies, down from the 67% recorded in 2008. However, the number of new tenancies signed by two tenants rose from 28% to 52% over the same timeframe.
What’s more, HomeLet’s figures show that the number of new tenancies agreed by three or more tenants increased from 5% to 15% between 2008 and 2015.
HomeLet suggests that its figures could well reflect the trend of more families entering the private rental sector, with high house prices preventing them from getting a foot on the property ladder.
Family ties
More recently released data, from the English Housing Survey, shows that number of privately rented properties let to renters with dependent children increased from 30% to 37% in the last decade.
In addition, the Index shows that the typical rental agreement signed for properties signed in Britain outside of London was 4.8% greater in the three months to February 2016 in comparison to the same time last year.
This however does represent a fall in comparison to last month’s Index, which reported that typical rents in the three months to January was 5.5% greater than in 2015.
According to the data, HomeLet reports the average rent in Britain-with the exception of the UK, is now £744 per month. In the capital, the average monthly rent stands at £1,521.
Less single renters taking on new tenancies
Quicker than inflation
Martin Totty, chief executive of Barbon Insurance Group, parent company of HomeLet, said, ‘average rents are still rising and while we are not seeing the double-digit increases recorded in some areas of the country during the summer of last year, the cost of a new tenancy continues to rise more quickly than general inflation.’[1]
‘Landlords are letting out homes to many more families, with rental property representing an increasingly important alternative to owner occupation; we’re also seeing people manage with higher rents by meeting the costs as joint tenants,’ Totty added. [1]
[1] https://www.lettingagenttoday.co.uk/breaking-news/2016/3/number-of-single-tenants-falling-as-families-and-sharers-enter-prs