Sir Kier Starmer insists that a Labour government would prioritise making housing more affordable by boosting the supply of new build housing and ruling bidding wars illegal.
He told BBC Radio 5 Live last week that his party would, if elected this week, “tackle the rental sector”.
“As you know private landlords are often getting tenants or would-be tenants to bid against each other in an upward spiral and that means rent goes up and up and up,” he said.
“Young people or people who want to buy their own home are paying a massive amount of their income in rent, and we have to stop that happening,” he explained.
“Rents are just going up because there are more people who need to rent than there are places to rent, and the prices are just going through the roof,” he added.
Starmer’s argument is supported by the latest in-depth analysis of rental market trends carried out by Goodlord.
The rental index shows that rents in June 2024 rose by 6.7% year-on-year, with the average per property cost of rent for tenancies confirmed in June reaching £1,225 per calendar month (pcm).
Regionally, the most significant year-on-year rise was recorded in the South West, where prices rose from £1,191pcm in 2023 to £1,347pcm. This is an increase of 13%.
In London, rents broke the £2,000pcm mark for the first time this year. An average of £2,010pcm was recorded for properties in the capital during June (up 2% year-on-year).
June traditionally marks the beginning of ‘high season’ for rental prices. Buoyed by demand from students, rents typically peak between June and September. Last year, rents peaked in July at £1,367pcm per property, on average.
During every year since 2019, the Rental Index has recorded a rise in rental prices between June and July, meaning even higher rental prices should be expected next month.
Between May and June, Goodlord says average rents rose by 4% month-on-month – from £1,183pcm to £1,225pcm – with all but one region recording an increase in rents.
The highest monthly rise was recorded in the South West (14%), followed by the North East (4%) and North West (4%)
The smallest monthly rises were recorded in the South East (1%) and Greater London (1%)
The West Midlands saw a very small reduction in average rental prices (-0.42%).
Alongside the rise in rents, voids significantly shortened in June. The average void period – the number of days a property remains vacant between tenancies – was 17 days in June. This is down from 21 days in May, a 19% reduction.
June’s 17 day average was, however, slightly longer than the void period recorded this time last year, in June 2023, when voids were 16 days.
William Reeve, CEO of Goodlord, commented: “There is a lot of discussion as to whether the pace of rental price rises is starting to slow. The next three months – which typically bring the annual peak in rents – will settle this debate.
“Right now, if this year’s current trajectory of consistent 6-7% year-on-year rent rises continues, we’ll see new records broken across England. And whilst a lot of the current signs indicate that this might be on the cards, we would need to see a very sizeable jump in rents over the next 4-8 weeks to surpass 2023 averages. However, it’s safe to say that market demand clearly remains very strong and that this continues to push rents up month-on-month.”
Net migration needs to change or is this just an excuse for rent controls.
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So build more social housing, that thing we had before there was a property shortage and spiralling rents. Don’t forget Labour are just Conservatives in disguise so this is unlikely to happen. Starmer’s words are just rhetoric to win votes – hate the landlord win tenant votes. Hate the immigrants win another type of vote etc…
Real change takes balls and I don’t think we have them anymore.
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Ok, emojis aren’t allowed. I posted the emoji for 100 lol
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Social is the source of all woes. In the late 70s we had 6.6m, by now that should be around 9m- but we have just 2.2m. Since 2k the most homes we have built in any 1 year is only 230k across all tenures. Even if we built 200k social homes a year- it would still take us 35 years to build what is needed- and there’s no way we are building 200k a year- the most built in a year since 2k is around 30k (at 30k a year it’ll take over 230 years to build what we need). We need to build social at a massive scale, but we need so much more. There needs to be incentivisation for NFP/CIC developers to spring up across the country. We need to motivate a self-build housing boom like we did post WW2. We need to massively tax the profits of housing developers and ring-fence that funding exclusively for building more, affordable homes.
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Your figures taken no account of the increase in population in future years.
The average British family is not having enough children, and there are plenty of reasons for that. But there are families who have plenty of children because their housing and living expenses are provided for free. The problem is, they are simply a drain on the economy. I read on Sunday that we have a convicted Taliban terrorist, now free and living in our midst, with 6 children and living in a £million house, paid for by the taxpayer.
Until we get immigration under control, we won’t even stand still with housing provision.
I hear all the rhetoric about building more housing, but that takes years, if it even happens. Where will all these people live in the meantime?
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The issue is people want more new homes but not near them – it’s crazy. All of us live in a home that one day was fields.
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Walk us through how ‘massively taxing’ the profits of housebuilders will help?
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“ As you know private landlords are often getting tenants or would-be tenants to bid against each other in an upward spiral and that means rent goes up and up and up”
That this happens simply means:
1. The property was advertised for less than its true worth, or
2. The bidders are idiots who want to pay more than a property is worth, or
3. A combination of the above two
I don’t encourage bidding wars, but I’m commenting because I hate reading ignorant statements.
‘1’ is not affecting the overall value of rents, simply bringing THAT property to its market level, and not many people fall into ‘2’, hence the reason why I think he talking nonsense!
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1. The advertised price is to attract interest, it’s not a set value.
2. Don’t confuse desperation with idiocy- that’s just cruel.
We’ve seen tenants (in ’22/23- ’24 in London is more ‘normal’) offer insane rents sometimes 20-30% above the list just to secure a home.
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“want to pay more than a property is worth”
it’s worth what someone will pay / what the market dictates
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A leopard does not change its spots – hence labour will tax all & sundry. If one thinks a Landlord is having a tough time now providing a service of property supply just wait until labour get their feet under the table. Daresay same will apply to developers big & small with onerous regulations & tax implications.
The need is for the government to build / create housing & accommodation to alleviate what labour deem “greedy landlords” upping rents who after take the investment risk.
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Housing is supply and demand.
Its that simple.
If you dont build enough (and most people dont want new builds near them), then there are limitations to where and how much you can build.
then you let in too many people into country, you will have a problem with rising prices. Plus no Government, will say to the vast majority of people, that they want to build so many houses, that your asset will fall in price.
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If Government officials were to read Economics text book chapter on the effects of supply and demand, they would obtain a clue as to what to do about rents (amongst other things) “going through the roof” – to explain:
– build more affordable housing to satisfy demand;
– stop selling off Council Housing and failing to reinvest in more houses to rent;
– when a family in Council Housing reverts to a couple, move them to a one or two bedroom house (will cost them less and will release a 3/4/5 bedroom house needed by the next generation);
– incentivise rather than continue to disincentivise Private Rented Sector Landlords otherwise more of them will sell up and invest elsewhere which will create an even greater shortage of housing available to rent;
. . . it’s really not rocket science is it ?!
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You can not have a capitalist nation like UK and then try to overly control it with autocratic measures.
So in the instance of the property market, it’s not healthy to try and control the basic market principals of ‘supply and demand’. If there isn’t enough housing stock, then build some more, which Government’s keep making these promises, but never deliver on it.
Also, if you squeeze landlords with unfair high taxes, i.e. almost abolishing mortgage relief, so they decide exit the marketplace, don’t blame or punish the ones left as they are still providing the supply. They are also trying meet their costs through rising rents and if this means getting the best rental prices they can, including a competitive bidding if the marketplace generates this, then so be it!
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“As you know private landlords are often getting tenants or would-be tenants to bid against each other in an upward spiral “. No, Sir Kneel, we don’t know. As usual he is saying what he thinks will get him a few more votes. In over twenty years of letting property I have never had anyone bid a higher rent.
How soon will voters’ remorse set in and people wish they had voted for REFORM?
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Some time back I wanted to open a branch in a very agreeable market town, found an A2 unit, all very suitable and flipping Savills beat me to it as they offered a £150,000 up front lump to take the lease.
They wanted it more and got it, supply and demand and all that, it was supplied and i didnt demand it enough, still not got an office in that town though, might go hybrid now years later.
Jonnie
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I have a close friend who owns a unit in a very agreeable market town, and he leased it to Savills!
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With Starmer’s plan to make every council in the UK take 1,5000 migrants per year and house them I imagine the housing crisis in every region will be even worse. Migrants who are mainly single young men will take priority over local families.
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The guy’s a kn*b!
Stupid statements like “As you know private landlords are often getting tenants or would-be tenants to bid against each other in an upward spiral ” get nobody anywhere.
Housing is like anything, if the supply is restricted and demand exists then prices will rise. It is kneel starmer’s cronies at gen rent and shelter who have contributed to the shortage and therefore to the rise in rents in the PRS. The key word here is Private, that means sir kneel, that it isn’t under government control and doesn’t need government interference!
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Regardless of what all Parties except Reform are saying, this election IS about immigration.
Immigration impacts everything. We are already the second most densely populated country, and simply cannot cope with a population increase the size of Birmingham every year.
Asylum seekers and illegal migrants are prioritised for social housing and health over the UK’s native population. It
exacerbates the NHS crisis, the housing crisis, the education crisis, and increases the already out-of-control welfare bill. These people contribute nothing and take everything, which means we will eventually have a massive population dependent on the State for the rest of their lives, with insufficient taxpayers to pay for them.
This isn’t about today’s pensioners, who have paid their NI all their working lives. It’s about those coming in the future who haven’t paid anything but expect everything, and those in the workplace today and tomorrow who will have to pay for them.
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