Private landlords look to be leaving the rental market at a record pace, but will this prove to be a problem or an opportunity for private tenants?
Private landlords look to be leaving the rental market at a record pace, according to research from the property website Rightmove.
It says rising costs, taxes and legislation are making it more attractive for some landlords to sell up.
But will this prove to be a problem or an opportunity for private tenants?
Landlords leaving
Rightmove says it’s the UK’s biggest property portal, and it’s been combing through homes currently listed on its website.
It’s found that 18% of properties that are now for sale were previously offered for rent.
That 18% share is the highest that Rightmove has seen since it started measuring the number back in 2010 – when the share was just 8%.
And the trend is even more pronounced in London – where 29% of homes for sale were once down as places to rent.
Landlords say this shows a “worsening crisis” in private renting. The National Residential Landlords Association today warned that every rental home that is sold “exacerbates the imbalance between supply and demand.”
And that imbalance has become dramatic in recent years. Rightmove reports that in August there were an average of 19 enquiries for every rental property. That’s better than a year ago, when it was 28! But pre-Covid, it was just 9.
Landlords claim a raft of changes are encouraging landlords to sell up: rising interest rates have pushed up their mortgage payments and there’s speculation they could have to pay more capital gains tax in the future (giving them an incentive to sell their properties now).
Original post from channel4.com
