High numbers of prospective tenants are still registering with lettings agencies in a bid to find themselves new rental homes.
ARLA Propertymark’s February Private Rented Sector Report has revealed there is no sign of demand slowing down in the rental market.
The number of new prospective tenants registered per branch rose slightly from 81 in January to 82 in February.
Year-on-year, this remains the same as February 2020 but is a huge leap from the previous February figure of 65 in 2019.
The report has also shown a rise in rental prices, with 49 per cent of agents seeing landlords increasing rent compared to 39 per cent in January, and 40 per cent in February 2020.
The number of tenants successfully negotiating rent reductions remained static at two per cent which is the same as the figure reported in February 2020.
Agents are seeing managed properties per letting agent branch fall for the third month in a row from 196 in January to 195 in February.
Landlords looking to sell their buy-to-let properties remained the same for the fifth month in a row, at four per branch in February.
Year-on-year this figure is slightly lower than the February 2020 figure of five.
Mark Hayward, Propertymark chief policy advisor, said the report demonstrated continued growing demand for rental properties.
“Letting agents have continued to support landlords and their tenants throughout the ongoing Covid-19 difficulties, and it is essential that tenancies are maintained wherever possible to ensure rent keeps flowing,” he added.
