A concerning new report from crowdfunding platform Property Partner has revealed that around four in ten large UK towns and cities in Britain saw a fall in buy-to-let listings in September.
The investigation looked at rental listings in 89 locations, analysing the number of properties listed between 1st-28th September, then compared to figures recorded in August.
Falls
Research from the platform showed that 36 towns and cities saw a decrease in rental supply during September. Of these, 29 also saw a fall during August.
Grimsby saw the largest drop in new rental listings in the last month, seeing a decline of 26%. Oxford (-24.4%), Canterbury (-23.9%) and Brighton (-18.7%) also saw significant falls. This said, no region was unaffected by a shortage of supply.
London saw new rental listings rise by 1.43% in the last month, showing a significant rise from August, when supply fell by 16.4%. Other large British cities, Manchester and Birmingham, saw new listings slide by 13.04% and 13.69% respectively.
Worrying
Dan Gandesha, CEO of Property Partner, observed: ‘You’d expect a seasonal drop off in the number of new buy-to-let properties coming onto the market during August but September has also proved worryingly slow. We’ll have to wait until next month to determine whether this is just a short-term problem or something to be increasingly concerned about.’[1]
‘The new stamp duty hike in April for buy-to-let and second homes saw a rush by landlords to beat the deadline with a subsequent rise in stock levels. But now that the dust has settled, we’re seeing some significant declines in new listings, particularly surprising after the Summer. Earlier this month, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) warned of a critical rental shortage. Traditional landlords have been given a proverbial cold bath with recent tax change announcements. The hike in the stamp duty surcharge in April has certainly discouraged landlords from increasing their rental portfolios,’ he continued.[1]
New rental listings slide in September
Hassle
Mr Gandesha wonders if many landlords will continue in their role past next year. He notes: ‘Alongside tougher lending criteria and cuts to mortgage interest tax relief starting next year, many landlords will be now doubting if it’s worth the hassle, particularly in the South East. Profits have been hit hard and those landlords that decide to stick with it, may just be forced to push up rents – not a promising prospect for tenants.’[1]
‘Like RICs, we believe Britain should be building more homes across all tenure types. Over the past decade, more and more people have moved away from home ownership and become long-term renters. It’s time for the new government to make build-to-rent a key priority, encouraging the private sector to build properties for residential letting with incentives for institutional and ‘professional’ landlords,’ he concluded.[1]
[1] http://www.propertyreporter.co.uk/landlords/september-sees-further-rental-supply-problems.html