Homelet rental data for March

Homelet's latest rental index for March 2016 shows -

• Fastest rental growth in Greater London, the East Midlands and Scotland over three months to March; North West is the only region to experience falls
• Average monthly rent in the UK (excluding Greater London) is  £755  – up 4.9% on 12 months ago; Average monthly London rent now at £1,536, up 7.7%

HomeLet report that rents continue to rise ahead of inflation and demand for rental property remains strong. 

Homelet's Martin Totty, comments: 

“We’ve continued to see increases in rents on new tenancies in almost every part of the UK during the first quarter, as the private rental market has responded to the pressures of an imbalance between demand and supply.

However, external factors may now come into play: the stamp duty increase has already had an impact and that surge in the acquisition of property by landlords could now cause a short-term increase in the supply of rental property in some areas of the country. In the longer term, changes to rules around buy-to-let mortgage interest being offset against tax bills, coupled with the Bank of England’s instruction to lenders to apply more exacting criteria on buy-to-let lending, may have a limiting effect on supply.

However, despite these factors, we expect the private rental sector to continue to play a crucial role in a housing market where population growth will continue for the foreseeable future according to official projections.”

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