New tenancies in England and Wales are at their lowest for eight years, it’s being claimed.

A report by the Deposit Protection Service reveals how landlords registered 250,000 new deposits with the three schemes between October 2016 and September 2017, compared to just under 77,000 during the same period in 2023-4.

The data also show that the average length of a DPS-registered tenancy has increased by 121 days: from 789 days in 2021 to 910 at the end of 2024.  

Average tenancy lengths: 2021-2024 

DPS managing director Matt Trevett says: “Whilst the overall number of tenancies in England and Wales continues to increase, that rate of growth has slowed during the last 12 months.

“This is the first time the rental market has grown by less than 100,000 tenancies in any 12-month period during the past eight years.

“Tenants are now spending just under two and a half years in a property on average, which is around four months’ longer than in 2021.

“A combination of high rents and a shortage of suitable rental properties means that it’s less common than ever to see tenants move.”

The DPS says it’s incorporated the results of its most recent tenant and landlord customer surveys into its report.

The data show how:

• The proportion of tenant survey respondents who said they’d moved during the past 12 months more than halved: from 46% in April 2023 to 20% in October 2024;

• The proportion of tenant respondents who said they’d rented for between one and five years increased 12 percentage points (42% to 54%) between March and October 2024;

• 35% of tenant respondents said in October 2024 that they hadn’t moved despite wanting to: up 11 percentage points from 24% in March that year.

A copy of the report is available here.