Following a decline in activity over October, the rental market had a robust November, according to the latest Property Activity Index from Agency Express.
Across the UK, the number of properties coming onto the rental market rose by 13.9%, while the amount of properties let dropped by just 1%.
The increase in supply appears consistent with recent data from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), which shows that landlords borrowed £3 billion in October, up by 7% on the previous month.
Rental Market had a Robust November
Nationally, nine of the 12 regions included in the Property Activity Index experienced increases in new properties to let and seven reported growth in the number of properties let.
November’s top performing region was the North West, with new listings rising by a huge 29.3% and properties let by 9.1%, marking the region’s greatest month-on-month increase for November since 2013.
Other prominent performers last month include:
Properties to let
- South East: +49%
- South West: +29%
- Wales: +20.5%
- North East: 15.8%
- East Anglia: +12%
Properties let
- Yorkshire and the Humber: +7.1%
- East Anglia: +6.7%
- East Midlands: +5%
The largest declines in this month’s index were seen in central England. The number of new property listings dropped by 5.2%, while the amount of properties let fell by 6.8%. However, over a three-month rolling period, figures remained resilient, with new listings up by 4.4% and properties let by 0.7%.
Stephen Watson, the Managing Director of Agency Express, comments on the data: “A robust comeback of the UK rental market this month. Following what was an unexpectedly slow October, the increase in this month’s figures has redressed the balance.
“Now we move into December, where a seasonal slowdown is expected. It will be interesting to see how the year end figures stand.”
Have your buy-to-let investment habits picked up again over the past month or so? The CML recently painted a picture of the average UK landlord and their trends: /cml-paints-picture-average-uk-landlord/