0:03 AM, 7th January 2025, About A day ago 2
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Rents in England dipped again in December, marking the fifth consecutive month of rental cost reductions, according to the Goodlord rental index.
This follows a record-breaking summer of price rises.
It says that December’s rents were down by nearly 2% month-on-month – that’s much lower than the peak averages recorded in July.
However, despite the recent cooling, rents for December are still up by more than 3% year-on-year, indicating that prices are rising but a much slower pace.
The firm’s chief executive, William Reeve, said: “After the fireworks of the summer, the rental market ended the year in a far more subdued fashion.
“We’ve now seen five months of decreasing prices and year-on-year rental averages are currently tracking far lower than figures seen during 2024 as a whole, although this should be viewed in the context of the record-breaking highs set during July and August.”
He added: “I also believe this could be the calm before the storm and that rents will see another major spike in 2025.
“With the introduction of the Renters’ Rights Bill, bidding wars will be outlawed, meaning asking prices are likely to be set that bit higher.
“Likewise, the new compliance requirements landlords must meet will also drive-up costs, some of which could be passed on to tenants.”
Mr Reeve is also predicting strong tenant demand this year which will outstrip supply.
Goodlord says that rents in December across England averaged £1,185, compared to £1,147 in December 2023 – an annual rise of 3.3%.
Landlords in the South East experienced the largest year-on-year change with a 5.7% increase, while the North East saw the smallest with a 2% rise.
December’s 3.3% year-on-year rise marks the smallest increase recorded for rent in 2024 and is in stark contrast to August’s 10% year-on-year growth.
Month-on-month, rents dropped by 1.7% from £1,205 in November to underline a five-month run of falling prices.
The data shows that void periods remained at 21 days across England on average, that’s slightly higher than the 20 days seen in December 2023.
This contrasts with July 2024, when the peak demand period saw voids shorten to just 11 days.
The West Midlands has seen the biggest reduction in voids, while the North East and Greater London also saw shorter void periods.
However, voids lengthened in the East Midlands, North West, South East and South West.
Crouchender
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Sign Up7:56 AM, 7th January 2025, About 22 hours ago
No big surprise. It follows the trend pattern of previous years. I.e. Decmber tends to be the lowest rent month over a rolling 12 month period. However dig into the detail and rents in London are up 9% (Ie Dec 2023 £1932 vs Dec 2024 £21060).
A tenant of mine has just emigrated to Australia. She said that she was in a physical que of people to look at apartment. They got the flat and offered 3 months up front and higher asking price rent (and via my extremely good Landlord ref). Remember that bidding is banned in Australia (and Labour nabbed the idea even if it has not been reviewed to see its impact apart from listings at inflated rents to allow bids up to). BUT at ground level my tenant told me the agent said "That's a good idea but not something they would ask of me!"
So this bidding thing is just hot air politics to appease Shelter and co.
Cider Drinker
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Sign Up15:51 PM, 7th January 2025, About 14 hours ago
Rents will rise faster than inflation because landlords’ costs are rising faster than inflation.
LHA rose by less than 11% in some areas in 2024 and that was the first increase since 2020.
If rents are really outstripping inflation, shouldn’t labour be increasing LHA this year rather than freezing it? Maybe Shelter (who don’t provide shelter to anyone) should lobby their mates in Parliament for LHA to be reviewed.