Further rent rises are in store across the UK amid increased demand and dwindling interest from landlords, according to the the RICS UK Residential Survey July 2024.
An +18% net balance of respondents saw tenant demand rise last month. Sentiment towards landlord instructions stood at a net -16%, which once again suggests the flow of listings coming onto the rental market is deteriorating, RICS said. Looking
ahead, a net balance of +33% of surveyors envisage rental prices rising over the coming three months.
Robert John Newton-Howes, MRICS, Yorkshire Surveyors Limited said: “Landlords are increasing rents to cover increased costs, or exiting the market.”
Andrew C M Oulsnam, MRICS, Oulsnam said: “The letting market continues the same with too many would be tenants chasing not enough property. The flow of landlords leaving the market continues with less new landlords replacing them.”
Tim Goodwin, AsocRICS, Williams & Goodwin The Property People said: “We are still experiencing landlords reducing their portfolios, and demand at increasingly high levels resulting in multiple applications for available property and rental levels increasing.”
Will Barnes Yallowley, AssocRICS, Tate Residential, said: “Aff ordability continues to be an issue for applicants as rents are pushed upwards by government intervention.”
As regards home sales, this past month more people came to the market. “At the national level, the new buyer enquiries
indicator posted a net balance of +2% in July, up from -6% last time. Importantly, this is the first reading in four months that has been outside of negative territory. Even so, the latest figure is still only signalling a broadly stable trend in demand at
present, rather than a genuine upturn” the report reads.
Looking ahead all parts of the UK are anticipated to see some pick-up in house prices, with expectations particularly elevated in Northern Ireland, the East Midlands and London, RICS concluded.
The UK Residential Market Survey is used by the government, the Bank of England and other key institutions, including the IMF, as an indicator of current and future conditions in UK residential sales and lettings. It is the leading source of market intelligence, highly regarded both by investors and across the industry. The July 2024 survey sample covers 350 branches coming from 227 responses.
