Voids and rents show market “isn’t cooling down anytime soon”

Rents have risen seven per cent in the past year while voids have lengthened in the past month - although remain shorter than a year ago.

Data from Goodlord showed that rents last month - January - rose by an average of one per cent, and their typical £1,154 per month ranks seven per cent above this time in early 2023. 

The biggest annual increase in rents is in the North West - up nine per cent - with the smallest just 5.5 per cent in the East Midlands. Over the last month, the biggest change in rents was recorded in Greater London - up almost two per cent. 

Between August and October of 2023, rents in London surpassed the £2,000 threshold for three months in a row. Despite dropping below this threshold over the winter, the region remains the most expensive place to rent in England by a sizeable margin.

Void periods - the average length of time a property is vacant between tenancies - lengthened from 20 days in December to 22 days over the last month. Despite this increase, voids are down when comparing year-on-year trends. In January 2023, void lengths sat at 23 days on average across England. 

The longest void periods can currently be found in the East Midlands (28 days) and the shortest in Greater London (18 days). 

Goodlord chief operating officer William Reeve says: “We don’t expect to see huge market movements in January; the pace of new tenancies tends to take a few weeks to pick up post-Christmas. So to see this uptick in month-on-month rents - as well as the consistently sizeable year-on-year rises - is a sign that the market isn’t cooling down anytime soon. 

“In addition, with a new burst of activity on the sales side of the housing market, we could start to see some interesting knock-off effects on the lettings side in the coming months which could bring additional turbulence.”