Scottish letting agents give us their views on their local market.
“The rental market in Aberdeen over the summer months has seen an increase of tenants looking to rent, especially for flats and smaller houses. Our Aberdeen city flagship office reported a record amount of tenancies secured in August and September (October looking positive), with high levels of tenant enquiries being received. The higher end of the market has slowly seen signs of activity from families coming into the Aberdeen area, which is good news for a City who previously relied on families linked to the oil industry. At the beginning of the year we noticed that rental prices had started to stabilize therefore if properties are well presented, they will rent quickly.”
“A strong third quarter as usual as the return of the students adds to the already buoyant market. Strong tenant interest across all sectors means there is a need for new instructions and a greater level of stock. PRS is possibly the answer but I do wonder about all the purpose built student units and how the occupancy levels are in these blocks? It was recently suggested to me that occupancy in some is 80-85% leaving beds free.”
“The Edinburgh market continues to perform well throughout Q3, with increased lets compared to last year and stock levels reducing consistent with continued high tenant demand. TTL remains steady over the period and reflective of the time of year. Rents continue to increase and performance shows a robust rental market ahead of the letting agency rule changes due in December. We are gearing up for the changes ahead and providing advice to our landlords. The team are undergoing the necessary training to ensure they are qualified ahead of the changes in 2018 with the Letting Agent Code of Practice.”
“The Edinburgh property market is once again front page headlines as UK and overseas investors hone in on central properties offering strong rental returns. Couple this with Edinburgh residents enjoying higher levels of disposable income (second only to London), rental prices remain strong and tenant demand for central properties high. With letting regulation a matter of weeks away it’s going to be an interesting final quarter as the last of the agents prepare for the new Letting Agent Code of Practice. We are expecting a number of private landlords to finally make the decision to opt for fully managed services to ensure they are fully protected and covered for 2018.”
“From the perspective of the first half year, it was inevitable that in a market dominated by weak housing supply it was always going to be the investor’s opportunity and in Q3 this has come to pass. Average rents in Glasgow are now yielding for the investor as well as anywhere in the UK. We are expecting Q4 to continue with more confidence as political volatility becomes better understood rather than a motive to watch from the side-lines. Buy-to-Let, Build-to-Rent and Renovating-to-Rent look set to ensure a busy year end and start to 2018.”
“We have seen a strong amount of activity over the summer months. Stock levels have continued to stabilise, however, supply compared to demand is still greater and therefore the market is still exceptionally competitive. Good quality properties which are nicely presented continue to let well. Another promising stat shows that average rents continue to improve. Our average time to let is 46 days and our average monthly rent is £840. New instructions also remain strong with many new properties coming to the market.”
“The buoyant rental market in South Lanarkshire continues with particularly strong prices for larger houses as so few are currently available for let. The shortage of houses coming to the market for sale is also impacting, as people decide to rent after selling their own property in order to give time to find their ideal home. The increasing tax burden is convincing some landlords to sell up and those hoping to become landlords, or expand their portfolio, are finding it harder to obtain funding with the impact of tightening BTL mortgage regulations. In short, less supply, but healthy demand for good quality rental properties.”
“As always, summer has been a busy period for the lettings market in Aberdeen, but the real difference this year is that we’ve not seen the same number of people leaving that caused the drop in rents last year. We won’t be seeing all these people coming back to Aberdeen any time soon so rents are still lower, but overall we can see a slight reduction in the total number of properties available which is good news and hopefully this will continue to cover over the longer term.”
“The last quarter has witnessed an exceptionally busy period for Glasgow Property Letting with sustained growth and increased rents and stock across the board but especially in the traditional hotspots of the West End, City Centre and Southside markets. This has been without doubt the busiest time of the year with the traditional student surge but hopefully this is now slowing down as the new academic year is getting underway. All this has happened at a time when the lettings business in Scotland is preparing for the biggest shake up in its history with the Letting Agent Registration due to come into force on 31st Jan 2018.”
“We have enjoyed a very positive Q3 following on from the performance in Q2 with the lets per month consistently trending higher than previous quarters, especially in the one and two bedroom market around the city centre. Q3 tends to be the most active quarter being the “summer market” and tied in with the buzz of the festival it has not disappointed for landlords. Applicant levels have been incredibly strong which in turn has provided a shorter time to let, especially sub £1,300 per month. The lack of stock and the economic uncertainty (Brexit) has also meant that more people have turned their attention to renting, which increases the competition for properties.”
“This year, following the summer festival period, we have seen an increase in the number of landlords using Airbnb style letting sites in an effort to maximise rental income and avoid safety certificate costs. This trend has resulted in much needed quality rental stock being lost to the short-term market and, most worryingly, these sites are also being used to secure long-term lets without complying with safety regulations. Despite the ongoing shortage of properties, applicant numbers have continued to increase in Q3, specifically those looking for one and two bedroom properties in the city centre, resulting in increasing rent levels.”
“The Key Place continues to experience buoyant rents and short time to let across all of our offices in Central and South East Scotland. Looking at Falkirk rents – 1 bedroom properties are going for an average of £425 per month; 2 bedrooms £550; 3 bedrooms £650; and 4 bedrooms £795. Well-presented properties are renting within around 2 weeks, however less well presented properties are taking longer to let, which is reflective of tenant expectations. We anticipate positive rental growth will continue for the foreseeable future.”
“Rents continue to increase as tenant demand outruns property supply. This is not being helped by the tougher tax environment for landlords making the PRS a place where landlords have to be smarter to make their investments stack up. For many “accidental” landlords this is the time to sell up and we’re seeing a more serious landlord base emerge. This is good news for the quality of properties in the sector but we’re seeing more upwards pressure on rents as the tenant market continues to grow faster than new properties coming on. For letting agencies, the focus is now on two seismic events happening in the next 4 months: the introduction of the new Private Rented Tenancy (PRT) and the opening of the compulsory letting agent register. If our sector thinks it’s seen a lot of changes over recent years, ‘we ain’t seen nothing yet’.”
I am a Tenant Landlord
