Countrywide says the 2015 lettings market will continue to expand after a strong past year, and will be characterised by three developing trends.
The first will be growing institutional investment. While only a handful of large institutionally funded private rented schemes are now in existence, they will proliferate in 2015 says Countrywide.
One of the key advantages of such schemes is that many are achieving significant economies of scale meaning the difference between gross and net yields has narrowed. This has been achieved through an increase in market led design, which has seen a reduction in non-fee earning floor area, and more efficient property management made possible by units being located within a single building. This year looks set to see net yields growing this sector as the number of well-designed and managed build-to-rent schemes proliferates forecasts group commercial director Nick Dunning.
The second trend will be generation rent getting older, with more families and people in their 40s and 50s renting too.
Demand for high quality rental accommodation designed around families will take a different form and be found in different, more suburban locations to most of the privately rented homes today. Meeting this new demand will present new opportunities to developers and investors in the future he says.
The third trend - covered extensively on Letting Agent Today - will be the growth and growth of landlord licensing schemes, pioneered two years ago by Newham council.
As we enter 2015, there are a total of 15 local authority wide schemes under consideration, and around 30 schemes which target specific areas. The scale of any future roll out seems likely to depend on the experience of existing schemes, rather than the outcome of the general election says Dunning.
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