The latest Rightmove Rental Trends Tracker Q1 points to a UK rental market entering a period of pause, with tenant demand, landlord supply and pricing all showing signs of stabilising amid ongoing economic uncertainty. According to former Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors residential chairman Jeremy Leaf, shifting affordability dynamics, geopolitical pressures and landlord caution are combining to slow momentum across the sector, leaving activity in a state of transition.
Jeremy Leaf, north London estate agent and a former RICS residential chairman, says:
“Rental market activity has been in transition for a while now with issues exacerbated – but not necessarily caused – by war in the Middle East. For instance, tenants were becoming increasingly concerned about the rising cost of living beforehand but are even more so now.
Also, we were seeing aspiring first-time buyers trying to take advantage of salaries rising faster than house prices and easing affordability criteria. However, worries about the pace of mortgage rate increases in particular have encouraged more to stay put.
Meanwhile, the choice of property available is dwindling as landlords continue to leave the sector in anticipation of the imminent Renters’ Rights Act and taxation changes. There’s been a reluctance too for new investors to take their place partly due to uncertainty about the economy.
The net result is a market ‘on hold’ with fewer transactions and rents not moving much one way or the other – probably until some stability returns.”
