One in four letting agents reported that they witnessed rent price rises in October; the lowest number recorded this year.
The Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA) found that the amount of letting agents experiencing rent increases dropped to 25% in October from 32% in September.
Agents have also reported a decrease in demand, with an average of just 33 new tenants registered per branch, again the lowest number recorded this year. Supply of available rental homes has also dropped, although this is a typical trend for this time of year.
As is expected, the London market is still experiencing high demand, with 42 prospective tenants per branch in October, up from 39 in February. Supply of rental accommodation fell from an average of 182 properties per branch in September to 173 in October.
Prospective tenants in the East of England and the South West have more properties to choose from, with agents seeing an increase of homes to let. In October, agents in the East managed 199 properties and those in the South West had 184 up for rent.
Managing Director of ARLA, David Cox, expects to see similar trends next year: “We’d hope to see the number of tenants experiencing rent hikes remain low with supply and demand levelling out. However, a lot is resting on the economic and political agenda.
“We’re still waiting for new houses, promises by the Prime Minister, to be built. Whilst this will take pressure off the rental prices as supply rises, the changes to landlord tax proposed under the Finance Bill is likely to discourage new landlords from entering the market.”1
However, separate research by franchise firm Belvoir reveals that the average rent price has risen by just 3.5% since the third quarter of 2008.
Director of Belvoir, Dorian Gonsalves, comments: “Clearly the market is far from spiralling out of control in terms of rental increases, although this has been repeatedly suggested in media reports.”2
Have you put your rent prices up recently? And what are your plans for the coming year?
2 http://www.propertyindustryeye.com/one-in-four-letting-agents-reporting-rent-rises/