Buy to Let Rents Stagnating, Say Official Figures

According to official statistics, buy-to-let rents stagnated in April 2018. Private renters saw rents maintain their 1% rise in the year to June 30. 

Within the UK, rents in England were up 1%, while Wales saw an increase of 1.1%, and in Scotland, growth was just 0.6%. In London, rents were down 0.2% in the year, with no change in the rate since May, says the Index of Private Housing Rental Prices from the Office of National Statistics. 

The study shows that the rate of private rent increases has slowed across the country since December 2015. A 1% increase means a property rented out for £500 a month in June 2017 now commands a rent of £505 a month.

“This slowdown in the growth in private rental prices in Great Britain is driven mainly by a slowdown in London over the same period,” says the ONS. 

“Between January 2011 and June 2018, private rental prices in Great Britain increased by 15.9%. This was strongly driven by growth in private rents in London. When London is excluded from these figures, private rents increased by 12.5% over the same period.”

In England, the region with the most significant annual rent increase was the East Midlands at 2.8%, down from 2.9% in May, followed by the South West (2.1% up from 2.0%). 

Outside London, the lowest increase was in the North East at 0.2%, up from 0.1% in May. 

The study also reports two other yardsticks for rent. 

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors says their research suggests tenant demand has stayed flat for five months in a row and that fewer buy-to-let homes are coming to the market. 

The Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA) has found more private rented homes are available to rent than in previous months, but too few are on the market.