Joy for landlords as renter demand causes stock surplus to evaporate
A stock surplus in properties available to rent has started to disappear, as demand from tenants is on the up.
The rental market stock surplus is now at a lower level than before Covid hit, according to research from buy-to-let specialist, Sequre Property Investment.
The level of stock surplus climbed when the pandemic hit in 2020, hitting a high of 171,080 properties listed to let across 21 major UK cities, at the end of 2020. This was a 77 per cent year on year increase.
Renters left cities in waves as city life became less desirable during the Covid outbreak and employees were instructed to work from home where possible.
Now, there is good news for landlords as the number of properties available has slowly declined since the start of 2021. There were just 57,382 properties available on the market, latest data showed.
This represents a 66 per cent drop on the pandemic high and is also 41 per cent lower than the levels seen before the pandemic.
In London, the surplus hit 102,240 available properties at the end of 2020. It dipped to just 35,292 available rental properties in the third quarter of 2021.
There had been a “slow but steady” reduction in the level of rental properties available this year, sales director at Sequre Property Investment, Daniel Jackson, said.
“However, the latest data suggests that with restrictions all but gone, this trickle has turned into a strong and consistent stream and available rental stock is now lower than pre-pandemic levels.
“This will be welcome news for those landlords who will no longer need to lower their rental income expectations in order to secure a tenant and we should now see a far greater level of stability remain for the remainder of the year.”