Tenants have paid down rent arrears despite a new record for monthly rents in October, according to the latest Buy-to-Let Index from Your Move and Reeds Rains.
Residential rents across England and Wales now average £770 per month, or £12 more than October last year.
Annual rent rises were 1.5% in the twelve months to October 2014. This follows faster average rent rises of 1.9% in the previous twelve months ending October 2013, and rental growth of as much as 3.4% over the preceding year.
On a monthly basis, rents in October 2014 rose 0.3%, or just £2 compared to the previous month of September 2014.
Slower rent rises have coincided with healthier tenant finances, with rent arrears approaching all-time lows.
David Newnes, director of estate agents Reeds Rains and Your Move, said: Rents have edged to a new record and the rental market is pulsing with new demand. Yet at the same time, tenants are getting on top of their finances - helped by a cooling pace of such rent rises.
Better affordability is good for tenants in the longer run too - and for landlords who can rely on steady revenue to pay the bills. That helps to support a virtuous cycle of only gradual rent rises. Alongside slower overall inflation, a material boost to the supply of properties available to let has helped keep rents from rising as quickly as in previous years.
Tenant finances improved in October, with just 6.9% of all rent in arrears, down from 7.2% in September and 7.1% in October last year. Rent arrears are also just 0.3 percentage points above the record low 6.6% set in November 2013.
Levels of the most severe tenant arrears have also improved. Households facing rental arrears of more than two months now represent just 1.4% of all tenancies, compared to 1.6% in Q3 2013, according to the latest quarterly Tenant Arrears Tracker from Your Move and Reeds Rains.
.png)
Comments