Mortgage News
Lack of properties pushes asking rents to record high – Rightmove
Average asking rents outside London have hit more than £800 per month for the first time, data has shown.
The rent rises are fuelled by fewer available rental properties for prospective tenants to choose from, as fewer property investors purchase buy-to-let properties, according to property website Rightmove.
The report found that there are 8.7% fewer properties available to rent compared to this time last year and that a quarterly rent rise of 0.8% is the biggest jump recorded at this time of year since 2015.
A 14% drop in mortgage approvals for new buy-to-let purchases compared to the same period last year has contributed to the lack of choice, the site said.
In London, the number of available rental properties is down by 19.4%, with agents finding tenants four days quicker for landlords’ properties than a year ago.
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Rightmove’s commercial director and housing market analyst, Miles Shipside, said that the exit of more landlords from the buy-to-let market in recent years has been due to a raft of different factors, from the more onerous tax regime and more stringent borrowing criteria, to the higher stamp duty on second home purchases and extra legal obligations.
He said: “What we’re left with is a lack of available homes for tenants looking to find their next place to rent, meaning that when the right kind of property does come along it isn’t sticking around for very long before it’s snapped up.”