Londoners expect further rent hikes over the next 12 months
THE NEXT year will herald yet further rent hikes for Londoners – or so they believe – according to the Rightmove forecast out today.
Sixty-six per cent in the city expect to pay more in 12 months, compared to 59 per cent for the country as a whole.
This move would come as another blow to London pay packets already tightly squeezed by rent. Whereas in the country as a whole 26 per cent of tenants paid more than half their income as rent, the figure for London was 29 per cent.
“The view from the majority of tenants across the country is that rents are only likely to go one way, and that’s up,” said Miles Shipside at Rightmove.
“London and the surrounding commuter belt of the south east have the greatest proportion of respondents predicting higher rents, suggesting that these markets are most…in need of further investment from landlords,” Shipside added.
Despite this hot London market, the report says that so-called “serial landlords” – who have invested in buy-to-let property more than once – are more prevalent in Wales, Scotland and the north of England.
Rightmove suggests this is due to the higher yields achievable in northern regions.
London offers an average rental yield of 5.7 per cent, while the north west delivers 6.4 per cent. “For the most attractive and immediate rental returns, the north wins,” Shipside commented in the report.