As we entered lockdown, activity on Rightmove understandably dropped, but, according to the portal, has been slowly recovering over the past few weeks.
Although overall search activity in the rental market is expectedly still lower than usual, it is starting to return and is now running at around 20% down on normal levels.
Total stock available to rent is up 2.6% in the second two weeks of lockdown compared to the first two weeks, as some agents re-list properties they’ve let out previously in order to line up new tenants for when lockdown ends.
Some agents have videos of their rental stock, and some prospective tenants are happy to secure a property and start an application and referencing process now to save time.
Rightmove says there is building momentum for renting homes with a garden.
Over the past week searches by renters looking for a garden are almost double compared to the first week of lockdown.
Over the longer-term they are now 16% higher compared to the average seen in January and February, and are also up 26% on the same week last year.
During the lockdown some renters are considering moving to places with a scenic river or a coastal town, based on the top ten biggest increases in searches comparing the first two weeks of lockdown with the second two weeks.
Southsea tops the list of the biggest rise in searches during the two time periods, followed by Cambridge and Worthing. Others in the top ten include Marlow, Bognor Regis, Dover, Southend and Margate.
Rightmove’s Commercial Director and Housing Market Analyst Miles Shipside said:
“Having a garden is often a rarity for many rental properties in larger cities, and so it may be that during lockdown people are rethinking their needs and location and are searching for some outdoor space and tranquillity.
“That allure may draw them further away from where they have habitually lived and travelled to work from, as can be seen by some of the coastal locations that have seen the largest search increases.
“Interestingly we’ve not yet seen this trend mirrored by those looking to buy a home, perhaps as renting is usually a much quicker process and so renters are thinking sooner about what changes they want for their next place.”
Comments (7)
The cynical amongst us might imagine that this press release by Rightmove is because the direct debits for May are due in one weeks time. They of course hope to justify their charges for what has been for many, the first complete month of truly irrelevant portal advertising.
The more cynical will have noticed that they have wheeled out Miles rather than a spokesperson.
Not only are they under-fire from Say No To Rightmove, on Wednesday Chris Watkins released my interview with him questioning the value of Lettings on Rightmove.
Rightmove isn’t a bad company and certainly have industry friends who are supporting them best they can. That’s reasonable and to be expected but it all paints a picture of a firm on the back foot and taking blows with it’s elbows tucked in.
I think thats true and in some regard Rightmove’s fundamental problem is a PR one, but indeed Gerald Ratner can tell you what that can do to your business!
A pr one? Are you seriously suggesting a bit of positive spin will placate all those agents who have for too long put up with a bullying and monopolistic price hiking profiteering greed machine?
I think perhaps you need to re-read BOTH of my posts and the context they were written in. But no I wasn’t suggesting that.
Does anyone care anymore what these people say? Move on, there will be a new normal, it should not include businesses that have demonstrated an inability to care for anyone other than themselves.
Without detail of who has listed the 2.6% stock this article can be read two ways.
Most likely the extra listings are coming from lockdown affected short-let landlords who aren’t using traditional lettings and property management firms. If that’s the case the extra listings are great for Rightmove but simply additional competition for everyone else.