Tide may be turning in private rental market
Friday, 20 January 2012 10:50 AM
The tide may be turning at last in the private rental market, according to two surveys out today.
The Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA) reports that demand for property is easing and tenants are struggling to meet their payments while Findaproperty.com reported a fall in asking rents.
Some 55 per cent of ARLA members said there were more tenants than properties available in the fourth quarter of 2011. While still high, the figure is down sharply from the 73 per cent seen in the third quarter.
Over the same period 39 per cent of ARLA members reported an increase in tenants struggling to pay their rent, compared with 37 per cent in the previous quarter.
Meanwhile Findaproperty.com said the supply of rental properties has risen to its highest level since August 2009, triggering a 3.3 per cent fall in asking prices in December 2011 to end a year of otherwise dramatic rental price inflation.
The average asking rent across the UK fell from £890 a month to £861 a month and rents even fell in the overheated London market by 0.5 per cent to £2,086.
Samantha Baden, property analyst at FindaProperty.com, said: "Up until Q4, 2011 had seen both rental stock and asking prices steadily rise, so these new figures will be music to the ears of prospective renters."
Tim Hyatt, president of ARLA, said: "The apparent drop in demand for rental properties could be due to the traditionally quite pre-Christmas period. At the same time, it could indicate a reversal of the surge of new tenants who turned to the PRS when they could not afford to buy."
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