Demand for rental properties in the UK soars, according to the latest residential lettings survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.
04-12-2012
 Interest from would-be renters jumped to a net balance of 15% during the three months to the end of October, up from 5%. RICS said that this represents the strongest reading since January and suggests that the booming rental market is showing no signs of slowing down. It also says that this comes at a time when fears have been raised over the lack of agent regulation in the lettings sector. Almost 90% of tenants who responded to a separate RICS survey called for compulsory regulation for lettings agents in order to protect consumers. In tandem with rising demand, an increasing number of landlords placed their properties on the market during the last quarter. A net balance of 14% more chartered surveyors reported rises in new instructions, a significant increase on the previous quarter's reading of -3%.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, with the lettings market still so buoyant, the cost of renting a home continued to rise. Some 12% more respondents reported rises rather than falls in rental values. Rents have now consistently been on the rise since the beginning of 2010. Looking ahead, surveyors predict further rises in the cost of renting as a net balance of 16% more respondents expecting values to increase over the coming months. The lettings market continued to flourish last quarter with more and more people looking to rent and an increasing number of properties being put onto the market. With issues such as a lack of affordable mortgage finance preventing many from buying a home, this trend looks set to continue for the foreseeable future,ђ said Peter Bolton King, RICS global residential director. Importantly, as a growing number of people are now entering the rental market, it is extremely worrying that no compulsory regulation is in place to protect them. At present, practically anybody can set up as a lettings agent and this means that tenants can potentially be at risk of poor service and even malpractice. We'd recommend that anybody looking to rent a home uses a regulated member of a professional body in order to protect themselves,ђ he added. |
