Rental Market In The UK Is Booming

A recent report released by ARLA suggests that demand in the private rented sector is at a five year high. This has led to an increase in rents being achieved which has been recorded by letting agents around the UK.

Around two thirds of lettings agents in prime central London report there are more tenants than there are properties available to rent. This pattern has also been mirrored in the South East, where a lack of rental property has been noted by 57% of letting agents. Other areas of the UK are also reporting a shortage in rental property by up to 37%.

However, the biggest turnaround in the balance between supply and demand, available rental property and tenants is in prime central London. The demand for rental property here has increased thirteen fold in the past five years.

In other areas of the country, the South East has seen demand increase 6 fold in the past five years and in other areas of the UK, demand has remained largely static.

This increase in rental demand has been caused largely because of the “softening” in the property market, the sharp increase in property prices over the past few years and  the mass immigration the UK is seeing which if all combined dramatically increases the demand for rental accommodation.

This news will be welcome among many property investors and landlords throughout the UK. With so much doom and gloom surrounding the UK property market in the past 12 months this piece of news will only show that the property market is very robust and property investment in the UK still has a lot to offer property investors and landlords.

With the population set to increase in the next decade, the supply and demand chain looks like it could become even more unbalanced and as such the demand for rental property looks set to only increase further over the next few years.