15 per cent year-on-year rise in demand for rental properties

Potential investors in a deposit replacement warranty like that offered by Advanced Rent may have received the final encouragement that they required to start a rental property portfolio or expand an existing one, with the news that new tenancies across the UK have jumped by 15 per cent over the last year. This was accompanied by an 8 per cent rise in monthly rental prices to around £758.  

Those are the findings of the latest index from the lettings group Sequence, and although rent growth was not so pronounced in London, the capital's deposit replacement warranty policyholders could at least take heart in a 1 per cent rise in rents across the city since January 2013. This brings the capital's average monthly rent to £1,395.

However, London did compare better to the rest of the country in terms of the number of new tenancies, with a 17 per cent rise having been recorded on an annual basis. There was also a 17 per cent increase in applications for a buy-to-let mortgage over the past year. This suggests that many holders of a deposit replacement warranty are acting on the positive signs of the rental market and the economy as a whole to boost their investment in property.

Sequence's head of lettings, Stephen Nation, observed: "The rental market across the country has started the year with renewed vigour and increasing levels of demand. We have seen a surge in the number of new tenancies this month, up 15 per cent annually across the UK and 17 per cent in London as tenants compete to secure their property at the start of the year."

Nation attributed such a high level of activity to "the sheer volume of new tenants coming into the market", as he pointed to a 6 per cent annual increase in new tenant applications across the UK, a figure that rose to 10 per cent in London. He described the UK-wide picture as one in which supply was continuing to keep pace with demand, as the last 12 months had seen 6 per cent more new rental properties, although he warned of a shortfall in the capital, where a 4 per cent decline had been recorded.

Of the heightening in the number of mortgage applications over the last year, Nation added: "The pipeline of new investors we are seeing will continue the flow of properties onto the market and appease the demand, which should in turn, keep rents stable." By enquiring about a deposit replacement warranty now, current and prospective landlords alike can soon take maximum advantage of such positive figures.

Editor’s Note: Advanced Rent (http://www.advancedrent.co.uk) are represented by the search engine advertising and digital marketing specialists Jumping Spider Media. Email: info@jumpingspidermedia.co.uk or call: +44 (0)20 3070 1959 / +34 952 783 637.