Agents overwhelmed by enquiries for every available property

Letting agents are currently managing 25 email and phone enquiries on average for every property they have to let across Britain, says Rightmove.

This is more than triple the eight they were receiving on average at this time in 2019 and is five more than in May of this year.

Highlighting the current gap between supply and demand, the number of available properties to rent has decreased by 35 per cent compared with this time in 2019, though it has improved by 14 per cent compared with last year.

The biggest imbalance between supply and demand across Britain is in two-bedroom semi-detached houses, followed by two-bedroom terraced houses, with smaller property types under more pressure from the demand and supply gap than larger properties.

The average advertised rent for new properties on the rental market hits another new national record of £1,278 pcm outside of London. This is the 15^th consecutive quarter that average advertised rents have risen to a new record, with average rents now 10 per cent higher than this time last year.

The average advertised rent in London has also risen to a new record of £2,627 pcm, and is now 12.1 per cent higher than last year.

Rightmove’s director of property science Tim Bannister says: “Record rents and far more tenants looking to move than there are homes available means it will still feel very difficult for many tenants navigating the market. However, there are signs that some of the pressure between supply and demand is beginning to ease, with the number of new rental properties coming to the market now at its highest level since the end of last year. 

“While it is likely that there is some way to go before this filters through to rental prices, if the improving trend between supply and demand continues, we could start to see the pace of yearly rent rises slow more significantly than it has been.”