Tenant enquiries are four times higher than the number of available homes

Tenant enquiries are four times higher than the number of available homes

0:01 AM, 21st December 2022, About A year ago 1

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Not only was 2022 the most competitive rental market ever, but during peak periods there was four times the number of tenants enquiring about rental properties to move into than there were homes to rent.

That’s according to Rightmove who analysed the data for the year to find out what tenants are looking for.

The property platform says that tenants searching for rental homes that had bills included were up by 57% compared with this time last year which highlights how worried many tenants are about rising energy bills.

Tim Bannister, Rightmove’s property expert said: “Tenants have shown through their search behaviour how appealing a home with bills included could be.

“Any landlord who is able to offer this added incentive next year, is likely to be met with an orderly queue of ready-to-go tenants to choose from.”

The most searched for location for home buyers

Rightmove also reports that the most searched for location for home buyers is London with 9% more enquiries than last year.

The second and third most searched for places on the platform are Cornwall and Devon but the number of people searching those locations has fallen since 2021.

Also, the gap between London and Cornwall searches was the biggest since the pandemic started at +36%, compared with just 3% last year, as more people looked to make a city move.

The fast-moving sales market is Livingston in West Lothian, Scotland, with homes finding a buyer in an average of 15 days.

‘People have well and truly returned to the capital’

Mr Bannister said: “This year people searching for their next home have well and truly returned to the capital – we started to see the tide turning towards the end of last year, and throughout 2022 a lot of our trends in the market have started to head back towards where they were in 2019.

“As we head into the festive period, we’re anticipating our traditional Boxing Day bounce in search activity, where more future home-movers log onto Rightmove after spending Christmas with friends and family and begin thinking about where they could live next year.”

He added: “We’re hearing from agents that they are getting properties ready for sale to go live on Boxing Day, ready to capture the attention of those beginning their search through to the traditionally busier January period.

“We’ve seen a group of people using the past few months to assess their options and consider what they can afford, and they could be spurred on next year should fixed-rate mortgages drop as anticipated.”

The most searched for areas for homebuyers using Rightmove in 2022:

  • London
  • Cornwall
  • Devon
  • Bristol
  • Glasgow
  • Manchester
  • Edinburgh
  • Sheffield
  • York
  • Cambridge

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Comments

Gary

20:55 PM, 21st December 2022, About A year ago

Those figures from Rightmove don't look right to me. Are they saying that they think there's only four enquiries for every rental property? I suspect they're only seeing enquiries which go via their site and not seeing all of the enquiries that come in via other channels.

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