Nearly half of all landlords in the UK have enjoyed a huge surge in demand for tenancies over the past six months, according to a survey report by the National Landlords Association (NLA).
The survey, released in October this year, found that 40% of landlords have seen a notable increase in the amount of people seeking to let properties or rooms, and the area with the biggest upturn may just surprise you.
Whilst increases in Outer London and the South East of 40% and 41% may not be hugely unremarkable, the figures of 48% and 45% posted for the East of England and the South West respectively are certainly a shock.
This research by the National Landlords Association also discovered that approximately one in twenty landlords have considered selling their rental property, in light of the government’s recently revealed plans to scrap mortgage interest relief for landlords. It is feared this move may affect as many as 600,000 tenancies, and the NLA’s chairman Carolyn Uphill fears this will mean tenants shouldering the burden of this cut.
“The Government’s planned changes, which will be phased over a period of years, gives landlords effected time to review their finances, but some will still be forced to sell or trade at a loss which is unsustainable and the projected impact will mean that ultimately renters will lose out as a dwindling stock drives up prices and competition for homes”, adding that “these figures demonstrate just how important the private rented sector is in housing a growing number of people.”
Additional information acquired from the latest Landbay Rental Index revealed that the price of rent for one bedroom flats has also risen significantly, to a current average of £1054; a trend which many believe is due to high demand from graduates who wish to rent close to their new place of employment.
The Landbay index, which launched in September this year, tracks rental trends at county and London borough level in accordance with the number of bedrooms in a property. The largest increases in one bedroom rental prices were recorded in Edinburgh, Swindon, and Southend-on-Sea, but the steepest rises are to be found in three bedroom properties.
Rented three bedroom homes reached an average of £1,489 in September 2015, and when this data is combined with the figures from the NLA survey, it seems that those landlords willing to absorb the cut in mortgage interest relief will be reaping the rewards of high demand and ever increasing rental rises over the next twelve months.