Let's celebrate! It’s been a decade of rental sector growth, says agency

Haart is trying to shift the mood music around the private rental sector from challenging to celebratory, saying there is plenty to be pleased about as we end one decade and start another. 

Haart operations director Paul Sloan says: “There’s a lot of pessimism about the private rented sector – and sometimes landlords themselves join the chorus. But a look at trends over the last decade, rather than the last month or year, show there’s been a period of expansion, growth and profit for Britain’s vital private rented sector.”

He says the figures speak for themselves:

- according to HM Revenue and Customs, the number of landlords has increased from 1.97m at the start of the decade to 2.5m now, a rise of 27 per cent;

- the number of private tenant household in Britain has also shot up, according to the governmental Office for National Statistics, from 16 per cent of households in 2010 to 20 per cent now;

- monthly rents have also gone up significantly, especially in London. Citing figures from HomeLet, Sloan says that outside the capital the average monthly rent has gone up by more than 27 per cent, from £619 at the start of the decade to £788 now;

- meanwhile in London, rents have risen a huge 77 per cent from an average monthly £940 10 years ago to £1,665 now;

- house prices have risen across Britain since 2010 says the ONS, from an average £167,496 in 2010 to £235,000 today, a 40 per cent rise.

- and rental demand is also up, with the English Housing Survey showing that 55 per cent of 25 to 34-year-olds were homeowners in 2010, but that is now down to 38 per cent. 

Sloan adds: “With a new decade just around the corner there will undoubtedly be fresh challenges for the private rented sector. But if we look back over the most recent decade, this sector is clearly a powerful and growing force; providing millions of homes to people who through choice or circumstance are just not ready for the expense, the permanence and the stress of a big, hamster-wheel mortgage.”