Over half of tenants see rents rising
OVER half British tenants expect rents to rise over the next 12 months, a Rightmove survey revealed today.
The proportion of tenants expecting a hike (52.6 per cent) dwarfed the four per cent of respondents who expect rents to fall.
At the end of 2010, only 41.7 per cent anticipated an increase in rents.
Restricted opportunities for home-ownership are keeping more people in the rental market, it said.
“The days of plus 70 per cent owner-occupation are numbered, with the lenders who hoisted us up to these levels now responsible for opening up a trap door beneath our feet,” said Rightmove director Miles Shipside.
“The housing aspirations of many dangling by the precariously thin thread of mortgage supply,” he added.
Meanwhile shortages in rental properties are also responsible for pushing up prices.
London is one of the worst areas for shortages in rental accommodation, the survey said, along with East Anglia.
Well over half (58.4 per cent) of tenants reported that they would like to buy a property, but could not afford to.
Meanwhile, almost a third (29 per cent) of people with mortgages decided to exceed their repayments in the last 12 months, a separate survey by Moneybasics revealed.