Lettings agents have highlighted a lack of stock as their main concern, research claims.
The latest State of the Lettings Industry report from Goodlord and Vouch has revealed that a third of agents are worried about a lack of listings.
The majority, 83 per cent, said they have seen landlords leave the sector in the past year and 64 per cent believe the coming year will bring more attrition.
Almost half of agents said more than five per cent of their landlords had left the sector in the past year.
Another 28 per cent said between five and nine per cent of their landlords had left the sector, while 14 per cent said between 10and 19 per cent have left.
This was blamed on a combination of the stamp duty holiday and mounting regulations prompting landlords to cash-in on their portfolios.
In better news, two-thirds of agents said they were no longer seeing an increase in the pace of arrears, while the number of lettings professionals reporting an increase in arrears has halved since the previous survey, dropping from 64 per cent to 32 per cent.
Optimism among agents remained high but has slid from 80 per cent in September 2020 to 67 per cent this month.
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Survey shows 100% of all agents think there are too many agents. The problem is that in most locations the market is too diluted.
The numbers leaving the market in my opinion is no greater than normal
Over 35 years an average of 7% of your stock is lost
Finding the new news is the key
There is always an annual churn, as an agent I always used to budget for a 10% drop in my portfolio as landlords sold up, but many simply did as it suited them as opposed to it being a market dynamic. However, you cannot argue with the facts. The size of the PRS peaked in 2016 @ 4.832 million units, and every year up to that point it was increasing year on year. Since then it has been falling year on year, a trend you can't ignore.
Someone needs to point out to Polly Bleat that actions have consequences.
Meh... what's the worry? Lloyds Banking Group will buy them all up and re-let!
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