Scottish letting agents give us their views on their local market.
“Q4 has continued to be steady in Aberdeen with well-presented one and two bed flats often being let in under 7 days if priced correctly. Locally there seems to be more recruitment and confidence in the oil industry and the rental market continues to show signs of recovery. Dated properties continue to struggle. There was also a slight over supply of HMO rentals going into Q4, with a small number missing the student trade and sitting empty over Q4. Some landlords may have work to do early next year before marketing their property with the new EPC rules coming into place.”
“Q4 2019 was another strong quarter for landlords in Glasgow. The market continues to remain strong in all areas and price bands, with City Centre and Glasgow West End especially seeing rents rising above the rate of inflation. Stats show that the number of new landlords entering the market and existing landlords increasing their portfolios has stagnated over the past few years and with the number of potential tenants continuing to rise, we therefore expect the market conditions of the last few years to continue into 2020.”
“We are primarily focused on property in or near the city centre and tenant demand shows no sign of abating. These tenants are now demanding much better quality properties though and are prepared to pay substantially higher rents to get them. With those higher rents comes a health warning. Every property and location is different so pushing rents up to the highest possible level with only 28 days to find a tenant under the PRT regime is a risk. We continue to have very limited void periods in any properties but it is often a close run thing. On the landlord and new property side we surveyed all our landlords last week and one key finding is that 94% of our landlord clients would be happy to renovate their property as required to improve rental returns.”
“Lettings continued to be strong in October and November with rents still rising for good quality properties in popular areas. December slowed as per previous years in the run up to Christmas. We welcome the recent Scottish Government led research on Airbnb style lets which showed a relatively positive attitude towards some form of regulation. We feel this needs to be implemented quickly and enforced to ensure a level playing field for all in the lettings sector and will hopefully release some much needed accommodation for longer term tenancies.”
“The final quarter of 2019 and indeed the decade has been a busy time at GPL with the steady supply of good quality residential property in prominent residential areas. We have also seen a steady supply of investor landlords keen to get a foot on the market before Brexit kicks in. There was a slight cooling off period in the Private Rental Sector with the general election looming in December but that seems to have been only a slight blip in an otherwise productive market. We are now looking forward to embracing 2020 in a very positive manner.”
“Overall, the rental market has remained strong throughout 2019 despite ongoing political uncertainties. As is seasonably usual Q4 was relatively quiet in terms of rental demand from prospective tenants, but we did see a surge in new landlords and investors purchasing buy-to-let properties. We are seeing a better quality of rental properties come to the market, and rents remaining robust as tenants are choosing their rental property as a long term housing option. 2020 looks set to be an interesting year, but we anticipate the rental market to remain steady and to offer growth by means of investment.”
“With 2019 almost behind us, I look back over the last 9 months and I’m happy to report that they’ve been very kind with excellent growth (around 20%) including the purchasing of Kite Lettings. The confidence to purchase another agent was off the back of the higher demand for letting property seen this year with stock moving quicker than ever and rents still increasing. In previous years, we’ve seen the market quieten down between October and December, however, I’m pleased to report that we saw strong rentals over the last 3 months especially in October when we had one of our best months. Going forward, I expect to see a strong start to 2020, now that we have the Brexit vote behind us.”
“2019 was another year that was dominated by ongoing political turmoil resulting from the grid lock in Westminster. The market in Edinburgh remained robust and the population in the city continues to grow. The result is tenant demand for good quality rental property remained strong, rents continued to rise and time to let numbers stayed largely stable. There is now at least some clarity around the Brexit debate though the terms of the divorce from the EU are yet to be thrashed out. This will continue to have some effect on the market but we feel the capital is well placed to ride out any further uncertainty in the wider political and macro-economic arenas.”
“There continues to be a vibrant rental market in Stirling driven by a cross section of interested parties from students looking for flats in and around the city centre to professional couples and families having sold and awaiting new properties to purchase coming to the market. Demand for traditional and modern flats in the city tends to dip slightly in the autumn, with students having already secured accommodation and much of the tourist trade reducing. Airbnb is very much on the up in the city around the Christmas period, and demand is high for short term lets in the city. Families are still looking to secure six month to one year lets as they are on the lookout for new properties to buy in the spring.”
“Demand as always at this time of year has slowed towards the end of the last quarter, but we are still managing to get properties out the door. We are working with clients on our new ‘Property Investment Management’ piece to help them grow their portfolios further and make more from their investment. As we grow across central Scotland we continue to enjoy meeting a variety of people and are delighted to continue to offer homes to them. We are looking forward to 2020 and hope to further increase our portfolio and to get more quality properties to the market.”
“The final three months of the decade saw the Edinburgh rental market end on a high with overall strong demand for good quality rental homes. With this comes the caveat that properties in lower demand areas and/or properties where décor/furnishing is not to modern taste saw a slight fall in demand with tenants choosing to rent more desirable properties. Renting is the only viable long-term option for many renters; we are seeing them opt for higher quality homes with the knowledge they will likely be living there a great deal longer than would have been the case in the past.”
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