50,000 more rental properties needed urgently, says Rightmove

Rents across the UK have risen to another new record with prices outside of London soaring to £1,291 per month – 8.5% higher than last year – and rents in the capital 5.3% higher at  £2,633 per month, data from Rightmove reveals.

Although rental growth across the UK is slowing nearly 50,000 rental properties would be needed to head back to the pre-pandemic level of rental supply. Rightmove’s latest data shows that the number of rental properties available to tenants is 11% higher than at this time last year, though still 26% below 2019.

NEARLY TRIPLE

Letting agents are now fielding an average of 13 enquiries per rental property – down from 19 at this time last year but still nearly triple the average of five back in March 2019.

Tim Bannister, Rightmove’s Director of Property Science, says: “The rental market is no longer at peak boiling point but it remains at a very hot simmer.

“Looking at data across the whole market, we can see some slow improvements for tenants with more choice, and competition with other tenants slowly starting to ease.”

He adds: “The fact that even with some improvements to the level of supply, we are still nearly 50,000 properties behind the pre-pandemic market, is a stark reminder that the industry needs more good quality rental homes and we need to encourage investment from landlords to provide them.”

And Christian Balshen, Rightmove’s lettings expert, adds: “It is clear that letting agents are still receiving a large number of enquiries for each property which they market. However just because there is very high demand doesn’t mean that tenants can automatically afford higher rents.”

STARTING TO SLOW

Simon Thompson, Group Lettings Director at Miles & Barr in Kent, says: “I think it is fair to say that price growth has eased, however the pace of new supply coming onto the market is also starting to slow, probably due to a combination of the relatively low numbers of new landlords coming into the market, and a few landlords looking to sell.

“There has been an increased number of price reductions, but this is mainly happening at the top end of the market, with smaller homes still in high-demand. It appears stock will get tighter as we move into the summer months and as such the number of reductions will likely decrease.”