The UK rental market has reached an 18 month high in terms of supply, and the good news is there is the demand to match.
The latest monthly report from the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA) shows that the number of rental properties being managed per letting agent rose to 193 in September, a rise of 10 based on numbers in August.
Many agents were relieved to see the growth, as August’s numbers saw the amount of properties managed per branch fall to a low of 171 and with only 37 prospective tenants on the books.
Agents are now reporting the highest number of properties seen on the rental market since February 2015 and the highest number of prospective tenants seen this year.
|
Month - 2016 |
Number of Prospective Tenants |
|
January |
31 |
|
February |
37 |
|
March |
33 |
|
April |
34 |
|
May |
33 |
|
June |
37 |
|
July |
36 |
|
August |
37 |
|
September |
40 |
A smaller number of agents are witnessing rises to rent with only 24% of agents reporting an increase, which is down 3% from August’s numbers of 27%.
ARLA’s managing director David Cox said ‘This month’s findings paint a really positive picture for renters. Although demand is rising, we’ve seen this happen gradually over the course of the year, and would expect it to slow again in line with seasonal trends over the next few months.’
‘On the other hand, the supply of rental stock has risen astronomically, which suggest it’s not quite right that landlords are pulling out of the market as a result of Brexit. This is supported in our findings, which reveal the number of landlords selling their buy to let properties hasn’t changed since April, when three landlords were selling up per branch,’
