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Fewer people are renting, reveals new research

Analysis of 90,000 lets last year across the UK by Hamptons International reveals several surprising trends.

Nigel Lewis

A leading estate agency has published rental data that contradicts many of the key claims made about the private rental market by a well-known campaigning organisation.

Generation Rent recently claimed that London’s 2.4 million private renters are facing an ‘affordability crisis’, but the latest rental index from Hamptons International reveals that the total amount of rent paid by the capital’s tenants dropped by £620 million last year.

Although rents increased by 0.4% across the UK on average, rent rises have been weakening and fewer people are renting, the research shows.

Hampton International’s Monthly Lettings Index also reveals that rent increases slowed in 11 out of 13 regions year-on-year. And in several key markets including the South East and South West, new-let rents dropped by half a percent.

The total amount of rent paid  by tenants in the UK during 2018 dropped for the first time in ten years, the survey has also revealed, and rents increased by just 0.6% during January compared to a 2.4% rise during January 2018.

“Despite average rents rising 0.4% in 2018, fewer people renting homes meant the total rent bill [has shrunk] by £1.9 billion since 2017,” says Aneisha Beveridge, Head of Research at Hamptons International (left).

The index also reveals the dominance of London; some £20 billion of the total £60 billion spent on rent nationally is paid by the capital’s tenants.

Hampton International’s Monthly Lettings Index takes rental data from the wider Countrywide network of branches and is based on the 90,000 lets it completes every year.

February 11, 2019

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