'Unchartered waters' as agency sees biggest-ever rent fall in Scotland

March saw the sharpest month-on-month fall in Scottish rents on record, according to the letting agency Your Move. 

Average residential rents in Scotland dropped 0.7 per cent; this also represents the first monthly drop in rents witnessed since September. 

In absolute terms, this £4 drop during March takes the typical rent in Scotland down to £544 per month. Scottish rents have not been this low since May last year.

This has also suppressed annual growth to just 1.1 per cent in March. 

“It’s unlikely to hang about for long as the Scottish rental market begins to gear up towards the annual autumnal peak. Tenants in big cities like Edinburgh haven’t enjoyed the same reprieve at all, with the ratio of supply and demand still stacked greatly against them. Investment from landlords needs to follow the tune of the jobs market and economic activity” says Brian Moran, lettings director of Your Move Scotland.

“With landlords now facing an additional three per cent [Land and Building Transactions Tax] on property purchases and the Private Tenancies Bill passed through Scottish Parliament, we’re entering unchartered territory. What we do know, is that if landlords hit the brakes and cause a roadblock of supply in the private rented sector, tenants will be the casualties paying higher rents in the longer term” he says.