The number of To Let and Let By boards predictably fell during August but bucked the usual annual trend, Agency Express has claimed.

The board supplier claims new listings ‘To Let’ fell 4.1% and properties ‘Let’ dropped 1.9% over the month, but that is a much smaller dip than August 2015.

The Agency Express Property Activity Index recorded a drop in new listing boards of 13.2% and ‘Let By’ signs fell 9.2% in the same month last year.

The top performing region during August was East Anglia, recording increases both in new listings ‘To Let’ up 1.1%  and properties ‘Let’ at 6.1%.

A buoyant market was also reported in the north-east with properties ‘Let’ rising 20.2%. These are record bests for August in these regions.

The largest declines in this month’s Property Activity Index were in central England where new listings ‘To Let’ fell 16.2% and properties ‘Let’ 9.2% in August. But the figures for new listings in central England were still up on those recorded in 2015 when there was a fall of 21.7%.

Stephen Watson, managing director of Agency Express, said he was anticipating a further spike during September.

He said: “In August the UK rentals market has seen some seasonal decline, but our data shows this to be less than in years previous.

“This year we have seen more regional growth with areas reporting their record best increases in new listings, whereas in 2015 only one region reported an increase – Wales at 3.40%.

“As we collate September’s data we would expect to see a spike in activity once again. Last September new listings rose 4.2%, and this year we’d hope to see a larger increase based on current activity.”