Homelet’s April 2016 Edition of their Rental Index has been published and is showing a steady rise in rents in all regions of the UK except for the North West.
This very accurate data gathered from their tenant referencing service is based on actual achieved rental prices with accurate tenancy start dates in the reported month, rather than advertised costs. With Homelet referencing up to 1700 applicants a day this shows just how comprehensive, accurate and up to date this report is.
Their key points that have come from the report are:
- When London is excluded, the average UK rental value was £764.00 pcm – 5.1% higher than the same period last year (£728.00 pcm).
- Average rental values have increased in eleven out of twelve regions in the UK, compared to the same period last year.
- The North West (-1.0%) has seen a continued reduction in rental values over the past ten months.
- Rents in Greater London are up by 7.7% year on year, the same rate of increase for a third successive month.
So, what does the report show for Yorkshire?
Whilst the report does indicate a very slight -0.2% variation in achieved rents between March 2016 and April 2016, on the whole the region is still seeing a steady increase of 4.8% in comparison to April 2015, which is largely in line with the UK average (excluding Greater London) of 5.1%.
Homelet Chief Executive, Martin Totty stated, “For now it’s business as usual, which may be better news for landlords than for tenants, though landlords will no doubt be feeling the squeeze too given the various taxation changes they now need to budget for. We will have to see whether landlords try to pass their higher costs on, whether buy-to-let property investment diminishes in popularity and whether tenants are able to afford further increases in rents.”
The full Homelet Rental Index April Edition can be found here.
