The study has revealed a 15% drop in new rental properties being listed across more than 90 towns and cities in the UK. Property Partner looked at the number of new rental properties being advertised* between 1st August and 28th August, and compared it to the same period in July.
In most areas, there was a significant fall in new rental properties advertised. Hartlepool in the North East saw rental listings down a massive 36.5%, and a further 11 towns and cities experienced a shortage of new buy-to-lets being listed including Canterbury (-30.4%), Wakefield (-28.5%), Loughborough (-28.3%), Colchester (-26.5%) and Cardiff (-25.9%).
Of the major English cities, London saw new rental property listings down 16.4% between July and August. While, in Manchester and Birmingham, new rental ads fell 18.4% and 16% respectively.
Dan Gandesha, CEO of Property Partner, comments: "There’s usually a seasonal drop off in new rental properties coming onto the market over the summer. But July saw the highest numbers of buy-to-lets being advertised since the stamp duty hike in April whereas last month experienced some dramatic falls in most parts of the UK.
Traditional landlords have had it hard of late. Alongside the stamp duty surcharge, the banks have imposed tougher lending criteria, and cuts to mortgage interest tax relief will begin to take effect next year. Profits have been hit and this could force many landlords to sell up. If September fails to pick up and there’s a shortage of available rental properties, rents could be pushed up. Hopefully for tenants, this won’t be the case.
Longer term, the pressing issue is to get Britain building more homes across all tenure types. Demand for rental homes has been increasing over the past decade as more people move away from home ownership and become long-term renters. These tenants are quite rightly demanding a higher quality of service delivered by professional landlords.
Anyone now looking to invest in residential property would be wise to consider alternatives to traditional buy-to-let, which do away with the hassle, expense and tax implications.”
