Voids up but rents steady as market heads into autumn

The rental market is heading into the normally-quieter autumn period with strength but increasing void periods.

Data from PropTech firm Goodlord, which monitors the market in a monthly snapshot, suggests that rents were up by two per cent across the UK on average, but void periods typically rose by two days to 18 days. 

Just one area saw a decrease in void periods during August - the South East fell from 15 to 13 days. 

The South West was the only region to see a major change: void periods in the area shot up from 10 days in July to 24 days last month. 

However, the year to date average for the region is 20 days, indicating that June and July were exceptionally busy months for the area, with the normal pace of lettings now beginning to resume. 

All other regions recorded a slight increase in voids of between one and three days. 

Meanwhile demand for new properties from students and an influx in high quality homes hitting the market over the summer has seen modest increases in average rental costs across a number of regions. 

Greater London, the South East, South West, West Midlands and Wales all recorded a rise in average rents during August. 

London remains the most expensive place to rent a property with an average monthly cost of £1,713. This is followed by the South East, where the average cost per property was £1,204 during August. 

Wales remains the cheapest place in the UK to rent - at £685 per property - despite recording a two per cent increase last month. 

It was a different picture elsewhere, however. The East Midlands, North East and North West all recorded dips in the cost of rent. The North East saw the biggest drop, seeing average costs decrease by nine per cent month on month.