What do ‘Generation Rent’ want?

What do ‘Generation Rent’ want?

10:39 AM, 10th September 2018, About 6 years ago 5

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GoCompare have researched what the renting population of the UK are looking for in a rental property and what landlords actually offer in their advertisements. The interactive tool compares survey results which have been broken down nationally and by age group – allowing for greater insight into the world of renting. Survey questions included thoughts around the importance of quality of the area, number of bedrooms, and additional amenities such as cleaning or concierge services.

These results were compared against rental ads on RightMove which were crawled for common words and phrases to show what landlords are actually advertising.

  • 40% of all 18-24 year old UK renters believed that the number of bedrooms was very important when looking for a property.
  • 30% of 18-24 year old UK renters wanted their properties to be unfurnished, although only 14% of landlords advertise this, and 51% of advertisements have no furniture description at all.
  • 48% thought that being close to work or university was somewhat important, with 25% of people believing that is was very important and 11% believed that this wasn’t important at all. Over 58% of landlords advertise whether their property is close to a university or work locations to attract more potential renters.
  • Just 3% of landlords mention whether a cleaning service is available, but 21% of the 18-24 year olds would like a weekly cleaning service available in the property, with renters in Leeds wanting cleaning services the most at 30%.
  • Only 13% of the UK would like to live in a property with a concierge or serviced accommodation, Gloucester had the highest amount of renters who wanted this service with 29%.

Whilst the prices of houses have begun to decrease for the first time in over a decade, house prices still remain relatively high, meaning renting is the only viable option for the majority. GoCompare’s latest tool provides insight into what tenants are looking for and how landlords are missing the mark when advertising their properties.

You can view more of what tenants want and what landlords are advertising here.


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Comments

James Barnes

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16:52 PM, 10th September 2018, About 6 years ago

I think the title of this piece is somewhat missing the point. I think the answer to "What do Generation Rent want?" would be a reasonable chance of home ownership. The article however seems to be using data from a survey of young renters and students, I think this is a misinterpretation of the data applied to Generation Rent. The article would be better titled as "What do student/young renters want?".

Danny 10

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12:37 PM, 11th September 2018, About 6 years ago

I am a small scale landlord with 5 properties, mostly flats in areas of the country where there's a lot of students, grads and workers from Overseas/EU. My properties are in the relatively 'low end' price scale, £150-200k.
Often charting with my tenants, I would certainly go as far as saying in my experience there is a very large and real number of people in this sector, (22-35 year olds), who are happy to rent with little or no desire to buy.
Most see ownership as a big responsibility and an unnecessary drag on their lifestyles, time, savings and freedom. Prefering to use their savings for what they feel to be fun, enjoyment, travel and entertainment.
A lot see it at their particular point in life to commit to a property of a certain size or in a certain area, might not be what they want 2,3 or 4 years later. The 'add ons' such as estate agent and legal fees costs are considerable, when you buy and sell equal to a years rent. Also some see all the uncertainty in the housing market with Brexit etc as a distraction from ownership.

Yvette Newbury

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9:04 AM, 15th September 2018, About 6 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Danny 10 at 11/09/2018 - 12:37
With properties in similar areas to you, and renting to the same age group, you are spot on Danny 10! It is difficult enough to ask them to commit to a 1 year tenancy, yet alone anything longer (I refer to suggestion of 3 year tenancies) or home ownership!

Mike D

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15:21 PM, 15th September 2018, About 6 years ago

In my experience of younger renters, they have high aspirations want all the best bits, but don't want to do much.
I think a free hotel room is really what they are after! 😂

H B

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18:15 PM, 15th September 2018, About 6 years ago

"40% of all 18-24 year old UK renters believed that the number of bedrooms was very important when looking for a property."

So 60% don't think it is important?

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