Rents have inched up across England and Wales to reach an all-time record high, averaging £761 per month.
LSL, parent company of Your Move and Reeds Rains, said this morning that annual rent inflation now stands at 2.4% – equating to £15.
On a monthly basis, August rents were on average 1.1% higher than was seen in July – or an increase of £8.
However, LSL commercial director David Brown said: “Rents are now only 1% higher in real terms than at the start of 2010.”
Brown also urged Scotland to re-think its ban on fees in the light of today’s No vote.
He said: “Politicians on both sides of the border will now be returning to the more mundane and practical questions of making the best policy decisions. In the housing market, this means a debate about tenant fees.
“Banning tenant fees in Scotland pushed up rents by £312 per year – or multiple times what a tenant would have paid at the start of a tenancy.
“Across every corner of Britain this should serve as a lesson in fully thought through policy making.”
LSL said that in London, rents were up 3% annually, but in the north-east down by 1.6%.
The firm also estimates total tenant arrears at £279m.
* Ran Morgan, head of Knight Frank Scotland, said of today’s No vote: “The certainty provided by a ‘No’ vote will allow the property market to return to more normal trading conditions. The fundamentals are in place to ensure a full recovery, led by the key cities of Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Glasgow and rural counties within commuting distance of large employment hubs. Improving economic activity levels in the UK, better consumer sentiment and higher bank lending will all help to kick-start the market.
“We expect we will be very busy in the coming months as vendors and buyers, many of whom have put off making a decision to buy or sell a property in Scotland due to the referendum, return to the market. This will lead to an increase in the number of transactions at all levels of the market. We believe that the outlook for the prime property market in Scotland is positive. Our forecast is that prime values will rise by 3% by the end of this year and by a further 3-6% in 2015.”
Comments (1)
LSL is the holding group many letting agency chains under it's wing, so campaigning for tenant fees is in its commercial interest. So to that end, the findings will be attacked by the opposing view for not being objective.
We've introduced no fees for tenants in England and found them to be a good thing. We get more tenant enquiries, houses go quickly and landlords have more choice and a shorter void. Our tenancy length's are longer, so whilst we lose at the front end, we more than make up for it over the long term.
All this campaigning against fees does not do our industry any good. It's going to happen, the consumer is king and the consumer has a growing voice given the massive increase in the rental market.
There is an election next year. Every party will have pro-tenant legislation as part of their manifesto's. Don't fight it – embrace, adapt, use it to your competitive advantage, or risk being left behind.