Lettings agency reveals 41% reduction in London property listings
Joint report from Savills and LSE shows rental market supply problems are causing problems most significantly for poorer renters in the capital.
Lettings in London have seen a 41% reduction in stock over the past three years, a new joint report from Savills and the London School of Economics has revealed.
The report’s authors pin the slump in rental stock particularly in the more affordable portion of the market partly at the Government’s door for its refusal to unfreeze the Local Housing Allowance.
This means more private landlords are moving away from this kind of tenant because the LHA freeze means many cannot afford the shortfall and get into arrears.
But Savills says another reason is that many landlords, faced with higher mortgage payments when short-term deals end, are selling properties rather than operate them at a loss.
“London’s private rented sector, which provides homes for over one million households, is heavily reliant on private landlords,” says Abigail Davies, Director, Savills (pictured).
“Many have high levels of borrowing who find themselves at the sharp end of the turmoil in the mortgage market.”
The two groups which funded the report, Capital Letters and London Housing Directors’ Group, say the contraction in supply, along with the ongoing gap in the LHA and fast-rising rents, make Government intervention to prevent rising homelessness more important than ever.
Worsening
The report highlights how the availability of large homes with four bedrooms declined the most (-46%) while overall asking rents increased by 20% since March 2020.
“This research is the latest evidence of how the capital’s broken housing market is worsening the unsustainable and increasingly unmanageable pressures we face in London,” says Cllr Darren Rodwell, London Councils’ Executive Member for Regeneration, Housing & Planning.
“A bad situation is now becoming disastrous. We’re seeing fast-rising private rents and reduced availability of rental properties against a backdrop of continuing cost-of-living pressures and London’s longstanding shortage of affordable housing.”
Sue Edmonds, Chief Executive of Capital Letters, adds: “This research makes stark reading, and it is further evidence that our homelessness system is breaking down. This is the worst it has been for 30 years.
“The main issue is supply – there simply aren’t enough homes, and the contraction of the private rented sector, alongside escalating rents, is a severe blow to those who rely on it.”
