Landlords have not had it easier to find new tenants for their properties in the last 13 years, the latest research from specialist buy-to-let mortgage lender Paragon shows.
The average time properties remained empty between tenancies during the first quarter of 2015 was 2.4 weeks and this is the lowest level since 2002.
The average void period in the last quarter of 2014 was 2.6 weeks and in the first quarter of last year, it stood at 2.8 weeks.
Landlords have been reporting low or falling void periods since 2013, with only a slight fluctuation in the middle of that year, when the average period increased to three weeks.
John Heron, Paragon’s director of mortgages, commented:
“Void periods have been consistently low for some time, which is not unexpected when you also look at what landlords are telling us about the level of demand from tenants.
“In our survey for the first quarter of 2015, 42% of landlords said in their view tenant demand was either growing or booming and 54% felt demand was stable.
“The housing market is currently experiencing a shift, with more people choosing to live in the Private Rented Sector. This is supported by the figures released this month by the English Housing Survey which show 4.4 million households are now privately rented, compared with 3.9 million households in the social rented sector. This change in housing dynamics appears to be a continuing and long-term trend.”
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