Demand for rental properties has reached a five-year high according to a survey of landlords.
A growing number of landlords have reported ‘increased’ or ‘significant’ demand for their buy-to-let properties in the second three months of the year, according to research by Paragon Bank.
Indeed, the bank said this indicated tenant demand had hit the highest level since 2016, which will come as good news to anyone considering entering the buy-to-let investment market or expanding an existing portfolio.
Moray Hulme, Paragon Bank director of mortgage sales said: “It’s great to see that tenant demand reported by landlords to hit the highest level since 2016.
“Quarter two of 2020 was a time of real uncertainty and this was reflected in the record low levels of demand that landlords saw.
“Demand bounced back the following quarter and has been rising ever since. This highlights resilience of the private rented sector and suggests that a growing number of people have turned to it at a time when the stability of a good quality home is ever important.”
In the survey of over 750 landlords it emerged just under 39% of landlords had seen increased tenant demand over the past three months, with 18.2% saying it had grown ‘significantly’ and a further 20.3% reporting slight increases.
After climbing by 8 percentage points since the previous quarter, this is a continuation of the trend for rising tenant demand from the low of 14% recorded in Q2 2021, representing a year-on-year increase of 25 percentage points.
Looking at how recent tenant demand has been reported in different parts of England and Wales, the data shows that with the exception of central London, all regions have seen a year-on-year increase in landlords reporting a ‘significant increase’.
Yorkshire and The Humber has seen the biggest rises after 65% of landlords reported increased tenant demand, 28% significantly and 37% slightly.
This was closely followed by Wales and the South West where a net increase in tenant demand over the past three months was reported by 64% and 63% of landlords respectively.
