Spike in landlords leaving PRS

Spike in landlords leaving PRS

11:00 AM, 31st May 2018, About 6 years ago 7

Text Size

ARLA Propertymark April Private Rented Sector (PRS) report.

Landlords selling their buy-to-let

  • In April, letting agents saw the highest number of landlords selling their buy-to-let (BTL) properties since records began in 2015. The number of landlords exiting the market rose to five per branch, up from four in March
  • In March, the figure rose for the first time in almost a year, to four landlords per branch, after sitting at three landlords consistently since April 2017.

Demand from tenants

  • The number of prospective tenants registered per member branch continued to rise, increasing by nine per cent in April. In March, agents had 66 tenants on their books on average, compared to 72 in April.
  • This is the strongest demand seen since September, when there were 79 registered per branch

Rent prices

  • The number of tenants experiencing rent hikes increased to 26 per cent in April – the highest since September 2017 when 27 per cent of landlords put rents up for tenants.
  • Year on year, this has risen from 24% in April 2017.

Supply of rental stock

  • The number of rental properties letting agents managed remained the same as the previous month in April, with 179 on average per branch
  • Year on year, this figure is low. In April 2017, agents managed a similar 185 per branch but in April 2016, they managed 185 and 193 were recorded in 2015.

David Cox, ARLA Propertymark Chief Executive, said:

“The barrage of legislative changes landlords have faced over the past few years, combined with political uncertainty has meant the BTL market is becoming increasingly unattractive to investors.

“Landlords are either hiking rents for tenants or choosing to exit the market altogether to avoid facing the increased costs incurred. This in turn is hitting renters most, at a time when a huge number of people rely on the rented sector, and leaves us with the question of where will these people find alternative homes?

“As demand for private rented homes massively continues to outstrip supply, the Government can no longer divert its attention from the broken housing market. The recent news that the Government is regulating the industry is a step in the right direction, but ultimately we just need more homes.”


Share This Article


Comments

Chris @ Possession Friend

14:04 PM, 31st May 2018, About 6 years ago

Don't tell me the Government didn't see this coming !
The Gov are doing NOTHING to increase accommodation, and in fact, quite a lot to make it worse,
Sec 24, Licensing,HMO Room sizes, I could go on....

Daniel Holder

14:31 PM, 31st May 2018, About 6 years ago

It's clear that many BTL landlords are starting to offload and sales from landlords gathering momentum. The well maintained flats near me are selling quickly but others are stuck despite some hefty reductions in asking prices, we are talking a 2 bed flat with 10-30% off and still no interest.

Dennis Leverett

16:52 PM, 31st May 2018, About 6 years ago

As I've said previously on another article our local property auctions in the last 9 months have been dominated with let properties especially protected tenancies which have sold for reasonable prices for cash buyers. Refurbishment properties appear to not reach such good prices as previously. Commercial properties seem to be doing well especially those suitable for conversion to accommodation. This is based on my observation rather than any sort of research. The figures in the article above clearly explain the consequences of yet another poorly thought out Government policy, more money totally wasted with expensive consequences in the future.

NW Landlord

10:09 AM, 2nd June 2018, About 6 years ago

I have sold two since Xmas with another 2 up for sale cashing my chips in as I have become totally disallusioned with the whole thing. Read a few articles aswell saying incorporated landlords are next ? All the indicators say to me that the government want to destroy the PRS and i am thinking ahead by selling what I can

Grumpy Doug

10:44 AM, 3rd June 2018, About 6 years ago

Just completing on my first sale at the moment (I had to wait until my fixed term mortgage expired) which will allow me to clear the outstanding mortgage on my best performing property. More sales scheduled for 2019 - 21 and I hope to be unencumbered on the remaining after paying the CGT. Ironically, my cash flow will be stronger than I originally forecasted as rents are rising so rapidly. Every cloud ....

Monty Bodkin

10:59 AM, 3rd June 2018, About 6 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Grumpy Doug at 03/06/2018 - 10:44
I've been doing similar Doug.
I'm now doing 20% less work for the same income with a healthy reserve in the bank. Wouldn't say Osborne has done me a favour but as you say, every cloud..

NW Landlord

11:09 AM, 3rd June 2018, About 6 years ago

I am trimming down to bank some cash and remove some headaches. Just have to adapt to new environment. Going to start overpaying on others get them down want to shed 25 30% of my portfolio over next 5 or so years. Diversifying into buy to renovate and sell

Leave Comments

In order to post comments you will need to Sign In or Sign Up for a FREE Membership

or

Don't have an account? Sign Up

Landlord Tax Planning Book Now