Rents Still Rising in most areas of UK

Asking rents continue to show pos­itive annualised growth in all regions except Greater London and Scotland. 

That’s according to respected property website Home, which issues a monthly market snapshot.

Rents continue to fall in London where the mix-adjusted average is now down 6.9% year-on-year. Scotland is suffering a similar fate, with growth falling into negative territory this month (-0.9%), which is also due to over­supply.

Elsewhere rental growth is in positive territory with the North East indicating a year-on-year rise of 15.1% - it is the only region to show a concomitant con­traction in supply.

UK asking rents are currently 2.1% above their March 2023 reading, says Home.

Meanwhile on the sales side Home reports a surge in seller optimism, particularly compared to this time last year.

The site says there’s a sense of ‘business as usual’ per­vading the market, and slightly more ven­dors than usual have committed to sell, although stock levels are still comparable to pre-pandemic levels.

Currently, there is no excess of property on the market that would put downward pressure on prices.

Moreover, Home says time-on-market figures are falling as properties begin to move through the market more quickly. Cur­rent Typical Time on Market figures are consistent with pre-Covid years and we anticipate further reductions in market­ing times in April and perhaps May.

There is also good news for buyers, with the market offering much more choice and lower pricing (particularly in London, East Midlands, East and the South West) when compared to the peak in July 2022.

Buyers are also increas­ingly confident that price corrections due to higher interest rates have worked through the market and that future price falls appear less likely in the near term.

Little has changed at the regional level: Typical Time on Market figures continue to indicate that the North of England, Scotland and Wales are all in good health and this enhanced momentum corre­lates closely with positive annualised price growth in all these regions.

How­ever, Greater London, East and the south­ern regions do show an improvement in their respective Typical Time on Market compared to 2019: Home says this is paving the way towards tangible year-on-year price growth. It expects the Midlands to follow suit later in the year.