14th
Jan 2022
Despite Covid and the cold winter months, landlords have had no need to worry about a fall in income and a predicted increase in void periods, it has been quite the opposite as the lettings market is doing exceptionally well.
According to a PropTech supplier’s latest rental index shows that void periods remained the same month on month alongside rental rates staying firm during December.
December’s average void period in England for a rental property stayed constant at 18 days in December as it was in November.
However regions across England were affected differently.
In the South West, experiencing a high demand for rental properties, saw a 21 per cent drop in voids in December from the previous month’s average of 23 days, with the West Midlands fall in voids recorded a drop from November’s 21 days to 16 in December.
However in the East Midlands where demand was far lower, void periods of 16 days in November escalated to 22 days for December, a jump of 37 per cent.
Amid the Omicron crisis hitting the capital, Greater London has seen an increase in void periods from an average 13 days to 16 in December, a 23 per cent rise.
Across the South East, North West, and North East experienced very little change in average void periods.
As important as void periods are the sector has seen rents being kept stable in December as average rents rose from November’s £980 to December’s £985.
Rents were steady across every region monitored.
Greater London saw a slight rise in rent prices of 2.2 per cent, however the biggest drop was 1.5 per cent in the South East during December.
The rental index also checks demographics and the firm says that the average tenant salaries remained very steady across the two months at £26,819 in November with only a £25 increase in December to £26,794.
Since August 2021 the average age of a tenant has remained the same at 34 years old.
Tom Mundy of the PropTech supplier, said: “We normally predict a cooling of activity in December, as less people are looking to move during the holidays, so these numbers are very interesting.
Demand and costs remained virtually unmoved compared to November. It’s a strong indicator of just how hot the lettings market is right now.
“Competition for properties is high and tenants are securing them as soon as they can. All signs point to a very busy year for agents and all agents should be preparing accordingly if they want to capitalise on the ongoing demand.”
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