Rent prices
- The number of tenants experiencing rent rises rose marginally in August, with 64 per cent of agents witnessing landlords increasing them, compared to 63 per cent in July.
- Year-on-year, this figure is up from 35 per cent in August 2017, and 40 per cent in August 2018
Figure 1: Average number of tenants experiencing rent hikes year-on-year
Supply of rental stock and demand from tenants
- The number of properties managed per branch rose to 197 in August, from 184 in July.
- Year-on-year is the same, supply is up by 4 per cent from August 2017.
- Demand from prospective tenants also increased, with the number of house hunters registered per branch rising to 76 on average, compared to 73 in July.
Landlords selling their buy-to-let
- In August, the number of landlords exiting the market remained at four per branch.
Although it’s positive to see that supply has risen, it is nowhere near enough to counterbalance the rapid pace of rising rents, which have reached a new record high for the fourth month running. Two-thirds of agents reported landlords raising rents last month, which is a significant increase when compared with the two-fifths of agents who witnessed rises in August last year.
Unfortunately, the impact of the Tenant Fees Act will continue to be felt by tenants, as in order to keep their heads above water landlords will need to continue increasing rents to cover the additional costs they now have to bear.
