Rightmove reveals this year’s busiest rental location

Rightmove has released its annual league table of busiest rental locations.

Wrexham is this year’s busiest, with each home available to rent attracting an average of 56 enquiries from prospective tenants. This compares to just eight enquiries per property back in 2019, when Wrexham was in 55^th position in the rankings. 

Local letting agents say the stock shortage has been exacerbated by some landlords selling up at the height of the pandemic and some renters staying put for longer.

An enquiry is measured by a prospective tenant phoning or emailing a letting agent via Rightmove to request to view a property to rent. The analysis was carried out across 360 local authorities in Great Britain.

The number of tenants chasing every available property has increased significantly over the past few years across Great Britain due to the gap between and supply and demand.

Redbridge in London is second on the list with an average of 49 enquiries per available rental property compared with 11 in 2019, and Tameside in Greater Manchester is third, with an average of 48 enquiries compared with 14 in 2019.

Across Great Britain, a typical rental home on the market has received an average of 20 enquiries per property this year, compared to six in 2019, more than triple.

However, there are signs that the balance between supply and demand will improve next year.

The number of properties available to rent is now 11 per cent higher than this time last year, while the number of renters looking for a home and sending enquiries to estate agents is 12 per cent lower than at this time in 2022.

Though the gap between supply and demand is improving, tenant demand is still 42 per cent higher than at this time in 2019, and the number of available rental properties is 28 per cent lower. This indicates it will take more time for the balance between supply and demand to reach the more normal market levels of 2019.

However, these early signs of improvement suggest that the average rise in newly advertised rents will be lower in 2024 than in recent years. 

Over the past year newly advertised rents have increased by 10 per cent outside London, and by six per cent in the capital. Rightmove forecasts a five per cent increase by the end of 2024 outside of London, with a three per cent increase in London.

Rightmove spokesperson Tim Bannister says: “The balance between supply and demand has been slowly improving this year, and while it will likely be a long time yet before we reach the more normal market levels of 2019, the early signs of improvement are promising heading into 2024.

“The increase in available homes for rents we’re seeing is likely to be a combination of some longer-term leases agreed during the pandemic years coming to an end, some new developments across the country being converted into rental homes, some landlords choosing to sell up, and also other landlords now returning who temporarily switched to the short-let market.

“There are still far more renters looking to move than there are homes available which means we still expect rents to rise on average next year. But these early signs of a better balance of supply and demand means we predict rents will rise by a smaller figure of five per cent next year, rather than another year of double-digit rental growth.”

Great Britain’s busiest rental markets