Market Overview

Some two million households rent through the private sector in the United Kingdom. Rents paid can range from £50 a week for a Highland croft to figures as long as telephone numbers for mansions and apartments in the prime areas of London - but these properties where the rents run into thousands of pounds a week, are used by diplomats, trade missions and senior international executives needing a base for entertaining on a grand scale as much as for finding somewhere to hang their hats.

Accurate breakdowns of the total rental market are notoriously difficult to come by. Estimates can be thrown into confusion by the sheer volume of property rented without going through any agency able to record and compute market data. However, the consensus view is that some 50% of all rentals are arranged through letting and managing agents, of which some 30% to 40% are members of recognised and respected professional organisations.

Outside London, each area will be driven by its own special requirements. Edinburgh, or Stirling, at the gateway to the Highlands, have their own contingents of international bankers and Hi-Tech executives. The North East and South Wales are renowned for their levels of inward investment. The towns along motorway corridors like the M4, M27, or M56 are commonly selected as locations for the headquarters of major growth industries. These attract new employees, permanent payroll or short term contract, at all levels.

Some of this influx know they will move on after a year or two. Others rent while looking around to buy while others will let out their own property somewhere else in the country, intending to move back home in time.

Family commitments, ranging from looking after elderly parents or relatives to the education of children, also play a part in the decision about tenure, whether to rent or to buy.