Landlords continue to flee the private rented sector with many actively looking to cut the size of their buy-to-let portfolios, leaving thousands of renters looking for somewhere new to live.
Analysis by TwentyEA had already revealed a substantial increase in landlords exiting the market or downsizing their portfolios.
Figures released last month showed that that the number of properties ‘for sale’ that were listed ‘to let’ in the past three years had risen dramatically.
In June 2024, 18.4% of all properties listed for sale had also been listed for rent within the three years prior to the sale listing. This was just over 28,000 properties and was 100.6% higher than June 2023 and also 34.6% higher than in June 2019. It was also 27.4% higher than May 2024.
Now new research that looks at specifically at London, where rental demand is greatest, shows that the trend is continuing, with the volume of properties for sale in the capital that were previously rented having increased.
According to research from TwentyCi, in July 2024 22% (8,006) of all newly listed homes for sale in inner London were found to have been available to rent at some point in the last decade, marking a 10-year high.
This figure compares with 15.6% (4,055) in July 2023 and 12.9% (2,664) in July 2019 – the last ‘normal’ year before the pandemic.
Meanwhile, the number of previously rented homes listed for sale across the UK was just 9% in July 2024, highlighting how the trend is highly concentrated in the capital.
Colin Bradshaw, chief executive officer of TwentyCi, said: “Aside from mortgage increases, landlords have growing fears around a possible rise in capital gains tax and compliance demands for energy efficiencies. Overall, the rental sector has become much more expensive and unpredictable for landlords over the last decade.
“Landlords selling now obviously comes at a very difficult point for the private rented sector. Available properties to rent are at their lowest since TwentyCi has been recording data in the last 15 years, now at 276,000 in July 2024 for the whole of the UK, compared with 369,000 in July 2019 – a reduction of more than 25%.”
The average asking rent across the UK based on the available stock is £1,869 per month, while in inner London, it is £2,399.
