Scotland’s flourishing rental sector has changed the dynamic of the country's housing sector with living in rented accommodation now firmly embedded as a key tenure, according to lettings portal Citylets.
The results from Citylets Quarterly Report (Issue No. 28) – covering October-December 2013 – shows the private rented sector continued to remain strong and sustainable in 2013.
The average monthly rent rose in Scotland just 1% year-on-year to sit at £678, but interest in rental accommodation - based on website visitors - continues to grow.
Edinburgh and Glasgow continue to enjoy a steady yet growing rental market, but the Citylets report shows renting in Aberdeen is again bucking the national trend with average citywide monthly rents soaring to well over the £1000 mark (up 8.2% annually) and showing no sign of abating.
The AB24 post code in Aberdeen – which takes in Old Aberdeen, Woodside and Tillydrone - recorded Scotland’s highest price rises with rents increasing 18.5% year-on-
year. While one bedroom flats in Aberdeen are the most sought after in Scotland – with properties being snapped up just nine days after being put up for let.
Dan Cookson, Senior Analyst at Citylets, said the statistics from the report underlined the importance the rental sector now played in Scotland.
Cookson said: “When the first issue of the Citylets quarterly report was published in 2007 the housing boom was at its height and the iPhone had yet to be launched.
“It was hard to imagine then the transformation that the private rented sector was about to experience. So much has happened in that time: the explosion of the internet as a tool to source properties, rapid expansion of the rental market, improvements in quality and service, the development of new luxury 'built to rent' properties and the blurring of the lines between social housing and private rented housing as Housing Associations and Councils get involved."
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