Stats show stock drought across UK’s private rental market

Rental market stock levels have plummeted further - even to below the pre-pandemic levels of late 2019.

New research shows that in the final stages of 2019 and prior to the pandemic, there were a total of 82,726 rental homes available to tenants across 21 major UK cities. 

By the start of the pandemic in early 2020, this had already climbed by 17 per cent to a total of 96,735 and this rental stock surplus continued to increase throughout the pandemic, hitting a high of 171,080 at the end of 2020. 

However, as restrictions eased, trickles of tenant demand started to return and the research by Octane Capital shows that by this time last year, available rental stock levels had fallen from their high of 171,080 to 145,196 - a 15 per cent decline. 

Fast forward to today and the latest figures show that currently, there are just 64,839 rental properties listed across these 21 major UK cities. 

London has seen the largest return to form of all cities when compared to this pandemic peak in available rental properties at the end of 2020. 

The level of currently available rental homes has fallen by 74 per cent across the capital, while Edinburgh (- 69 per cent), Aberdeen (down 64 per cent), Newcastle (down 62 per cent) and Cardiff (down 59 per cent) have also seen some of the largest reductions. 

The chief executive of Octane Capital, Jonathan Samuels, comments: “The rental market revival is in full swing and the recent decision to lift all remaining Covid protocols will have only bolstered this confidence further, as tenants return to our major cities in their droves to both live and work. 

“This will make for extremely welcome reading by the nation’s landlords who have suffered greatly due to dwindling demand during the pandemic, forcing them to massively reduce their rental income expectations while also suffering from lengthy void periods.”