Rental properties let in record time
In more good news for UK buy to let property investors, new research by lettings agent Countrywide has shown that properties are being let in record time. Even though more and more properties are coming onto the market, the third quarter of this year saw rental properties being let in an average of 12.7 days, down from 13.5 days in the same period in 2010. There is now an average of 5 tenants competing for each available rental property, higher in some areas such as the West Midlands where this figure rises to 7.3.
This competition for rental properties is fuelling the already booming rental market in this country. We have previously explored the issues of first time buyers being wholly unable to join the property ladder due to the lack of finance and lending by our Banks and this is yet more frustrating news for them. Rents are also rising (UK rental market continues to soar) and unless the mortgage market suddenly and unexpectedly opens up again the situation shows no sign of changing.
What is most interesting is that there are more and more rental properties coming to the market and yet this is still not driving down rental values. Countrywide confirmed that their instructions were up by over 9% this quarter. Add to this the fact that 23.5% of their landlords now are first time investors and it shows a real growth in the rental market in the UK. We recently reported on the Bank of England’s Trend in Lending report (Bank reports confirms rental yields rising) which also confirmed a strong rise in buy to let mortgages (Rise in buy to let mortgages).
John Hards, Co-MD of Countryside Residential Lettings, commented “Tenants now understand that properties aren’t staying on the market for long ... our findings show that couples under 35 years old remain the largest proportion of tenants, so the demand for one and two bedroom properties remains very high with most available properties snapped up extremely quickly”.
To discuss any of our buy to let properties, please do not hesitate to contact us at info@emergingrealestate.com
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