Tenants expect more rent rises

Rightmove’s latest Consumer Rental Forecast finds that six in ten (60%) tenants expect to be paying more for their rented accommodation in 12 months’ time, up from 53% a year ago.

In a market where the supply of rental properties is failing to keep pace with high demand from tenants across most of the UK, the anticipation of upwards rental pressure is greater among tenants in London and the South East. 66% of tenants in London and 62% in the South East expect to be paying more for rented accommodation in a years’ time. This news is likely to be disheartening to tenants in these regions who are already feeling the squeeze on personal incomes more than most. 31% of tenants in the South East and 29% in London are already spending more than 50% of ‘take-home’ pay on rent, both above the national average of 26%.

Miles Shipside, director and housing market analyst at Rightmove, comments:


“The view from the majority of tenants across the country is that rents are only likely to go one way, and that’s up. London and the surrounding commuter belt of the South East have the greatest proportion of respondents predicting higher rents, suggesting that these markets are most at risk of ‘over-heating’ and most in need of further investment from investor-landlords. The continuing heat applied to rents is a double-whammy for the one in two tenants that would like to buy but can’t afford to. These ‘trapped renters’ are faced with the prospect of a downward spiral where spending more income on rent also means saving less for a deposit”.