The gulf between rental demand, as measured by search activity, and supply, measured by available properties for rent, is at the widest point Rightmove has ever measured, spelling bad news for tenants.
Rightmove’s latest Consumer Rental Forecast shows that search activity continues to set new records having more than doubled over the last two years whilst available stock for rent is down by nearly 10%.
The rate at which properties are added and removed from the Rightmove site has not materially changed over this period. This means the upwards rental pressure Rightmove has been reporting since the beginning of 2010 has reached new heights with 63% of tenants forecasting that their rents will be higher still in 12 months’ time. This is up from 53% last quarter, a very large increase in such a short space of time.
Rightmove says this “clearly illustrate(s)”” the extent of the growing accommodation crisis in Britain