Time to read: 2 minutes
Asking rents in Great Britain are rising at the fastest rate ever recorded, according to Rightmove’s Quarterly Rental Trends Tracker - and this is certainly what I am seeing here at Harris & Birt.
Average asking rents hit annual growth of 9.9% to reach £1,068 per calendar month outside of London, the highest annual jump on record, recovering from the slowdown in rental growth in the months immediately after the pandemic started.
This rapid growth in rental values, driven by high tenant demand and low numbers of rental properties available, means that rising rents are outpacing house price increases in all regions, with the exception of the East Midlands, South West and South East.
Wales (+12.7%) leads the way in annual asking rent growth and Rightmove reports that Pontypool in Monmouthshire, Wales, saw the largest annual increase in asking rent of any local area, jumping 20% from £562 pcm to £674 pcm.
Overall, the supply-demand imbalance is supporting asking rent rises and has led to some fierce competition between tenants for the rental properties available.
Total rental demand is up by 32% compared to this time last year, while the number of available rental properties is 51% lower. This has led to available rental properties being snapped up by tenants in just over two weeks (17 days) on average. This certainly mirrors my own recent experience - we are letting properties before they are actually being made available.
Rightmove reports that the average yield across Great Britain is 5.5%, which is the highest yield since 2016 when it was 5.6%. The North East and Wales have hit record yields.
Landlords - please contact me if you would like a free no obligation portfolio valuation so that you can be sure that you are receiving the correct market value and make sure you are revisiting all your current rents during the renewal stage. Its a great time to be looking at expanding your portfolio - feel free to contact either myself or David Lakin for further advice.
Martine Harris ~ Head of Residential Lettings ~ 01446 771777
