Rental market continues to fly thanks to reducing supply

Latest figures from ARLA Propertymark suggest the rental market continues to perform strongly.

Data for February - the latest available from the organisation - suggests the average number of new prospective tenants registered per branch rose to 82, from January’s 81.

Year-on-year this remains the same as February 2020 but is a huge leap from the previous February figure of 65 in 2019.

Regionally, the West Midlands had the highest number of new tenants registered per branch with an average 126, with the East Midlands second highest on 123 new tenants. Northern Ireland and The Isle of Wight both recorded the lowest number of new prospective tenants, with 26 registered per branch in February.

In terms of rents, half of ARLA’s agents saw landlords increasing rent in February compared to 39 per cent in January. Year-on-year this figure is also up from 40 per cent in February 2020. The number of tenants successfully negotiating rent reductions remained the same at two per cent in February. 

On the supply front, the number of properties managed per letting agent branch fell for the third month in a row from 196 in January to 195 in February.

Regionally, the North East had the highest number of properties managed per letting agent branch with a figure of 284. However, rental stock was the lowest in London with an average of 94 properties managed per branch.

The number of landlords selling their buy-to-let properties remained the same for the fifth month in a row, at four per branch in February. Year-on-year this figure is slightly lower than the February 2020 figure of five. 

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