Chartered surveyors are reporting the biggest increase in tenant demand in four and half years, with 27 per cent more reporting a rise says the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).
The rise is partly due to a renewed upturn in house prices pushing potential buyers back to the rental market.
Confidence in the rental market has been steadily increasing says RICS. Rents have risen for both flats and houses and are currently above the surveys long run average. However, surveyors are expecting a slowdown in rental increases for larger properties.
Investor landlords are more confident and more active in the market leading to a rise in the number of available properties to-let. So tenants are faced with more choice than they have seen for two years.
RICS spokesman, Jeremy Leaf, says: The lettings market is hotting up. Increases in demand are being satisfied by new properties becoming available all the time. Buy-to-let investors are active once again, which will help dispel fears that an absence of first-time buyers will contribute to a significant slowdown in the winder housing market next year.
