Hunters Tenancy Data Series - Article 3

In partnership with Homelet, Hunters are bringing a series of articles that explore the demographic profiles of the tenants we move in, and help find their next move, throughout the year.  

The third edition of this explores the UK rental market from a top level as well as a second drill down into the types of properties we have been letting so far this year, exploring the number of bedrooms and style of property.

The Rental Market in 2021

What is the average rental value in the UK?

For April 2021, the data shows that the average rental price for a new tenancy in the UK was £996 per calendar month (including London), which is up by 2.9% from last year.

Latest Rental Index data: April 2021

Homelet, our rental partners report that the average price of £996 – this is a 0.4% increase versus March and 2.9% up versus April 2020, indicating a strong, buoyant market for landlords. When London is excluded, the average rent in the UK is now £853 which is up 0.7% on last month and 6.2% on last year.

11 of the 12 regions showed an increase in annual variance, with the largest being the South West at 8.6%. The South West shows the highest yearly increase of 8.6% between April 2021 and April 2021. Average rents in London are down YOY, showing a 5.3% fall between April 2020 and April 2021; this is the 12th decrease in annual variance in subsequent months. However, the average rental value in London (£1,580) was still 85.2% higher than the rest of the UK excluding London (£853)

Types of Property

We noted in the April edition that across residential sales, there has been a change in property type this year with more people moving out of the city into semi-detached and detached housing. If we explore the data so far in lettings the trend has not changed too much from where we were back, then.

80% of all properties let so far this year, have been either flats or semi-detached properties. This is expected considering the current climate, but also shows that whilst in sales, there has been an exodus from city centre flats and apartments, the lettings market has remained buoyant. 13% of properties are made up with terraced living, with detached and bungalows minimum numbers.