Rental Index Live! Talk to the experts at Belvoir’s free property webinar…

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If you are a landlord your number one concern is probably ensuring that your investments are performing to their maximum potential. But how often do you take time to review your portfolio, and catch up with industry experts to find out about any changes to the rental market in your area? Post lockdown Britain paints a very different picture to pre-March 2020, making it more important than ever to keep up to date with developments. Are you sure you are fully informed about how rents are performing in your area? Do you wonder whether you should be charging more or less rent? Do you have tenants who are now in arrears and are you confused by changes to eviction laws?

Click here to register for Belvoir’s Rental Index Live webinar

Belvoir, which has over 170 offices nationwide, is one of the largest property management franchises on the UK High Street, with local business owners who are able to answer all of your questions. Belvoir is constantly monitoring the UK rental market and for the past 11 years has examined advertised rents each quarter to provide a unique rental index, focusing on regional landlord and tenant trends right across the country. This valuable resource is made freely available to landlords via the Belvoir website (www.belvoir.co.uk) and is well worth a read to see how rents are performing in your area. Importantly however, Belvoir also conducts a quarterly survey of franchisees across the network, seeking their views on current issues, and asking for predictions of what they think is likely to happen to rents in the next quarter.

The most recent survey, which is collated for Belvoir by property expert Kate Faulkner, provided a snapshot of how the High Street was coping during the first quarter of 2021. It also looked at what agents thought would happen as the year progressed. Check out the results…

Flats

• 10% of Belvoir offices, including Leamington Spa, Wembley, Aberdeen and Edinburgh, reported a decline in rents.
• 74% of Belvoir offices, including Swansea, Perth, Bangor, Warrington, Bolton, Newcastle Central, Yorkshire, the South West, most of the South East, East and West Midlands reported a rise in rents.
• 15% of offices, including Tynedale, Nottingham, Southampton, Boston, Westminster and Chester reported static rents.

Houses

• Belvoir Westminster, Wembley and Swansea were the only offices reporting rental decreases.
• 79.5% of Belvoir offices, including the North West, North East, Yorkshire, South West, most of the South East, West Midlands, East Midlands, Perth and Bangor, reported a rise in rents.
• 13% of offices, including Watford, Leamington Spa, Boston, Nottingham, Edinburgh and Aberdeen, reported static rents.

Click here to register for Belvoir’s Rental Index Live webinar

Rental forecasts for Q2 2021

• No Belvoir offices forecast rental decreases.
• 74% of Belvoir offices forecast rental increases.
• 26% of Belvoir offices forecast rents staying the same.

Houses

• No Belvoir offices forecast rental decreases.
• 82% of offices, including London, North East, Yorkshire, Scotland, most of the West Midlands, South West, East Midlands, Southampton, Portsmouth, Brighton, Thanet, Warrington, Chester, Swansea and Bangor forecast rental increases.
• 18% of Belvoir offices, including Boston, Bolton, Harlow, Watford, Tunbridge Wells, Devizes and Evesham, forecast static rents

Summary: Belvoir’s survey confirms that rent increases for flats are now catching up with house increases. A total of 90% of offices saw rises/static rents for flats, and 93% saw rises/static rents for houses. Not a single office forecast falls in rents for the next quarter! This confirms the ‘race for space’ is happening in both the rental and sales market. BTL remains a robust investment, typically doing well during a recession as well as a pandemic.

Rental Index Live webinar

To find out more about the current ‘race for space’ and other rental trends including any concerns you may have about rent arrears, why not register for Belvoir’s FREE Rental Index Live webinar that is being hosted at 7pm on 28th July by Channel 4’s Paul Shamplina and a panel of Belvoir franchisees from across the UK? You can hear their views, submit a question, and find out how to ensure that your BTL investments are performing to maximum potential throughout the second half of 2021. It’s a fantastic opportunity, so don’t miss out!

Click here to register for Belvoir’s Rental Index Live webinar

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Rental Index Live! Talk to the experts at Belvoir’s free property webinar… | LandlordZONE.

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Renting now cheaper than buying according to Hamptons International

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Hamptons International is the trading name of Countrywide Estate Agents, a group which carries out regular research into the UK property market.

The firm’s recent analysis suggests that the average private sector tenant is currently better off than a buyer with a 10% deposit, to the tune of £71 per month and this it puts down to the pandemic effect.

Many things have changed in the UK property market since the onset of the pandemic last March, and one of these changes has been that renting has now become cheaper than buying, an encouraging sign for buy-to-let investors.

The research identified only four areas in the UK where it is cheaper to buy than it is to rent: the North East, North West, Yorkshire and Humber, and Scotland.

Pre the pandemic it was cheaper to buy that to rent in every UK nation and region. But the sudden drop in demand for renting last year – as young people gave up their tenancies and returned to living with parents – changed the financial metrics dramatically. City living became considerably less attractive.

It’s the price rises what did it!

Just over a year on from the initial shock of Covid we’ve seen unprecedented house price rises, helped along by the successive Stamp Duty (SDLT) holidays and deadlines introduced by the chancellor.

So, despite a 7.1% rise in average rents over the past 12 months, there’s been a dramatic switch between the costs of renting verses buying as the exceptionally strong house price growth coupled with increases in higher loan-to-value (LTV) mortgage rates have outpaced the rental market.

With more young people being forced to stay in the rental market, being priced out of buying properties for themselves, the demand for rental properties has about-turned in city centres from 12 months ago. Rents are now on the rise again encouraging more landlords to stay in the rental market.

The renting market bounces back

Many young people are more inclined to move around with jobs and locations, they are even prepared to move and live abroad or travel, and the prospect of being tied to long-term mortgage commitments just does not compute with them – therefore for a fairly large section of the working population, renting has become a lifestyle choice.

With more and more young people less focused on purchasing their own property and more on a convenient and flexible renting lifestyle, the demand for rental property in the right locations has made a strong recovery and looks set to remain strong for the foreseeable future.

On the other hand, city centre properties, for those landlords who can afford to buy now, offer relative affordability while prices remain depressed; mortgage deals remain competitively priced and affordable, both offering the prospect of strong profits through healthy rental yields and future capital appreciation.

As might be expected, London has seen the biggest turmoil in the market since the start of the coronavirus pandemic last March, but with things beginning to turn around again and with the cost of renting becoming cheaper than buying, it creates a window opportunity for new and existing buy-to-let investors. The Hampton’s research shows that city centre rents are creeping up again and void periods coming down.

Where should landlords buy?

Young people tend to favour city locations and as workers drift back to their offices, as we all learn to live with the Covid threat, they will want to maintain their pre-pandemic vibrant social lives close to amenities and close to good restaurants, bars, and clubs.

UK hotspots for city centre locations outside of London include vibrant and growing cities such as Manchester, Liverpool and Leeds, cities where prices and rental demand remains strong. These large university cities with great social scenes, strong transport links and relative affordability offer great investment opportunities when compared to London.

However, other regions may offer even better value for buy-to-let investors, such as those identified in the research, the North East, North West, Yorkshire & Humber, and Scotland. These regions still offer excellent rental yields, with the prospect of future capital growth.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Renting now cheaper than buying according to Hamptons International | LandlordZONE.

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Short-lets rental sector bounces back strongly as Covid rules relax

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London’s short-term rental sector has bounced back more quickly than hotels and serviced apartments since the UK’s re-opening.

Short-term rentals occupancy in the capital went up from 43.1% in May 2020 to 64.1% in May 2021 – a 48.8% increase and a 12.5% rise between April and May this year.

The latest comparable data available across the sectors is to the end of April 2020, showing that hotel occupancy stood at 28%, serviced apartments was 39.9% and short-term rentals outpaced both at 57%.

The study, conducted in partnership with the UK Short Term Accommodation Association (STAA), reveals that average daily rates for the year ending April 2021 increased 9.4% for short-term rentals, but fell by 14.9% for hotels and saw a massive 63.1% drop in serviced apartments. Rates increased for short-term rentals by 16.5% from April to May this year.

Short-term rentals saw the highest growth (44%) in revenue per available room in the same period, while serviced apartments was up 25.2% and hotels fell by 2.6%.

The month-on-month picture was even brighter for short-term rentals, with a huge 40.8% increase from April to May this year.

The average length of stay for short-term rentals rose from 11.9 days in May 2020 to 13.3 days by December 2020, hitting a high in November of 14.3 days.

STAA chair Merilee Karr (pictured) says: “Whilst a hole will still exist from the absence of international visitors to London, customer confidence and the strength of the staycation trend are likely to fuel further the London accommodation recovery.

“The ease at which guests can socially distance themselves from others and benefits such as the high standards of cleanliness and safety, should cement short-term rentals as a mainstream option for tourists and holidaymakers.”

Read more about short lets.

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