Town revealed as 2023’s busiest rental market with 50+ enquiries per property

Wrexham in Wales is this year’s busiest rental location, with available rental properties in the area receiving 56 enquiries on average from prospective tenants in 2023, data from Rightmove reveals today.

This compares to just eight enquiries per property back in 2019, when Wrexham (main picture) was in 55th position in the rankings. Local letting agents say the stock shortage has been made worse by some landlords selling up at the height of the pandemic and some renters staying put for longer.

SECOND ON THE LIST

Redbridge in London is second on the list with an average of 49 enquiries per available rental property and Tameside in Greater Manchester is third with an average of 48 enquiries.

Across Great Britain there has been an average of 20 individual enquiries per available rental property this year, compared to an average of six in 2019, due to the widening supply and demand gap.

However, there are signs that the balance of supply and demand will improve next year. Rightmove forecasts a 5% increase in newly advertised rents in 2024 outside of London, with a 3% increase in London.

Meanwhile tenant demand is now 12% lower than last year, and the number of rental properties is 11% higher.

NORMAL MARKET

Tim Bannister,  Rightmove’s Property Expert, says: “It will likely be a long time yet before we reach the more normal market levels of 2019.

“The increase in available homes for rents we’re seeing is likely to be a combination of some longer-term leases agreed during the pandemic years coming to an end, some new developments across the country being converted into rental homes, some landlords choosing to sell up, and also other landlords now returning who temporarily switched to the short-let market.”

And he adds: “There are still far more renters looking to move than there are homes available which means we still expect rents to rise on average next year.

“But these early signs of a better balance of supply and demand means we predict rents will rise by a smaller figure of 5% next year, rather than another year of double-digit rental growth.”

It’s been a really crazy year for the Wrexham rental market.”

Karen Evans, Operations Director at Monopoly Buy Sell Rent in Wrexham, says: “It’s been a really crazy year for the Wrexham rental market.

“Like most areas of Great Britain there just hasn’t been enough properties to meet the demand from tenants and this has resulted in higher rental prices. We’ve had to reduce viewing times and host group viewing sessions. For cheaper properties up to around £900 per month in rent, we’re still seeing very high volumes of interest.”

And Vaughan Schofield, Owner at Belvoir Wrexham, adds: “On the supply side, we saw a wave of landlords sell up during the heights of the pandemic, taking a significant chunk of the rental stock out of Wrexham.

“The average enquiry numbers don’t surprise me. For a three-bed detached or semi-detached house on a good street in Wrexham, we could receive 100 enquiries for the property. Our focus is often finding the best tenant for the property who is keen to stay for the medium-long term.”