The UK in general has seen a spike in the number of rental properties on offer, with some cities now having more homes available to rent than to buy.
While London has traditionally been seen as the rental capital of the UK, the latest figures in the TwentyCi Property & Homemover Report show that the stock of rental properties has diminished by 4% in the fourth quarter of last year, compared to the same period in 2016.
By contrast, in Manchester, the ratio of rental and sale properties on offer is now 50:50 after the rental market share grew by 10% in 2017 compared to 2016. The city was last year named a build-to-rent hotspot, with more than 5,500 purpose-built, professionally managed rental homes under construction there and in Salford as of last March – a figure which is likely to have boomed since then as thousands were in various stages of the planning and application process at the time.
New leaders in renting
In Newcastle, properties on the market for rent surpassed the number for sale, at a ratio of 51:49, while Bristol offered up rented homes at a rate of 59:41, the highest in the UK.
Property commentator Kate Faulkner said: “The big decline in properties for rent now in London suggests that the government’s anti-landlord, buy-to-let policies may have backfired.
“Instead of improving conditions for tenants, what we’re seeing now is a decline in the availability of properties for rent. Although it hasn’t necessarily pushed up rental prices, it does mean that the growing population of renters now have fewer options than before.”
With news that more people are now leaving London in favour of cities such as Manchester and Birmingham, it seems that lack of availability of rental options could be a major influence in the move.
