This month, Toby talks about the practice of offering over asking rent, and looks at some recently introduced landlord legislation.
Reside General Manager Toby Martin summarises rental activity over the last month, with the latest facts and figures from the local market.
Reside General Manager Toby Martin summarises rental activity over the last month, with the latest facts and figures from the local market.
Tenant demand has far exceeded property supply for the last 12 months, but just what is the extent of this property shortage? As Reside’s Toby Martin discusses in the above video, the number of rental properties on the market at any one time is currently 35-40% below the average for the last decade.
This month’s round-up also includes news of upcoming smoke and carbon monoxide alarm regulations that landlords should be aware of. Be sure to watch the video for full details.
A recent study by major buy-to-let lender, Paragon Mortgages, found an increase in borrowing by first-time landlords as compared to the same time period last year.
Similarly, the percentage of business coming from landlords looking to grow their rental portfolios also increased.
John Heron, director of Paragon, said: “It would seem that an investment in property is increasingly attractive against a background of low returns on cash and volatility in global markets.”
“With perceptions shifting in terms of the improved availability of buy-to-let finance too, the lending industry is in a good place to support the ambitions of both new and experienced landlords.”
Also of interest to new landlords are the increases in average monthly rental costs in England and Wales – up by 3.5% in the 12 months to May 2013, according to LSL Property Services’ buy-to-let index.
David Newnes, director of LSL Property Services, said: “With wage growth so weak compared to inflation and house price growth, it looks like deposits will become less affordable – which will keep demand for rented accommodation high.”
He added that “private renting will become a more and more vital aspect of the economy.”
In line with these findings, we at Reside are seeing local demand for properties increasing significantly. July 2013 was our busiest month ever in terms of properties let, which were up 44% compared to July 2012 and 116% compared to July 2011. New properties added to our website also rose by 33% in July 2013 compared with last year.
Given also that rent arrears and voids are in decline, according to the National Landlords Association, this suggests that now is an excellent time for new landlords to consider investing in rental properties.
We’re always looking for new ways to show our landlords’ properties, and better ways to help our tenants decide which properties suit them. So when we came across BubblePix, producers of a brand new technology that creates 360° photographic images, we saw an exciting opportunity.
The BubblePod creates 360° images that will give our prospective tenants an honest view of property interiors – before they decide to visit.
We’re proud to announce we’ve made a small investment in BubblePix and that inventor Tom Lawton has agreed that Reside will be pioneering this exciting technology.
There are two elements to the technology: the BubblePod and the BubblePix App.
The BubblePod is a clockwork turntable that grips your smartphone and smoothly, silently rotates it by 360º.
Meanwhile the BubblePix App on your phone captures the 360º image. Users can shoot and share images in less than a minute.
Reside has agreed to act as a test bed for the early production versions. This means we’ll be one of the first letting agencies to use these images to present our properties.
Once they go into production, this will create a fantastic tool for letting agents everywhere.
To find out more about the BubblePod, click here.
As the sales market becomes increasingly subdued, the cost of renting a home in the South West has continued to rise as many would-be buyers find themselves unable to take their first steps on the property ladder.
The latest survey carried out by the Royal Institution of Charterer Surveyors states that the cost of renting a residential property in the South West has risen by 2.6% in the last twelve months. The RICS survey goes on to explain that this rise in rents is underpinned by a fall in good quality new properties coming on to the market.
This is a trend that is supported by recent research by Rightmove, whose ‘Little Blue Book’ of property trends states that in the last twelve months alone, search activity for rental property on Rightmove rose by 40% while available stock to rent fell by 3%.
Evidence of the South West’s strong rental market is borne out by a new report published by Endsleigh in which the specialist letting agents’ insurer placed Bath as the fifth priciest town or city for tenants in the UK. According to Endsleigh, the average cost of renting a property in the city is £963 per month – more than £257 above the national average. The report goes on to show the average monthly rent across the UK rose for the third year running in 2011 to £706 – compared with £688 in 2010 and £663 in 2009.
RICS, Rightmove and Endsleigh all indicate that current property trends seem set to continue for the foreseeable future, making this a particularly profitable time for landlords to be letting and investing in property in the South West.
