Looking at the Belvoir Rental Index, which measures both existing and new rents, there have been some small increases over the last three months. The LSL figures indicate a slight rise, then slight fall in rental levels. In contrast, the Homelet index, which is an insurance index, is showing a decrease in rents from October through to December.
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LSL show that residential property rents across England and Wales are now around 3% higher than December 2013, although rents reduced slightly in December 2014 from October and November.
Adrian Gill, director of estate agents Reeds Rains and Your Move, comments: “Recent months have shown a divergence from usual seasonal norms. Historically, there is a tendency for rents to ease in the winter, particularly December. With fewer tenants willing to relocate in the festive period, landlords usually compete to fill empty properties and agreed rents tend to dip as a result. Last month that happened – and rents fell compared to November – but by much less than the usual extent.
“In particular a jobs boom across the eastern regions of England has seen a larger than usual number of people relocating in the winter months. This has pushed up rental prices in these regions even further.”
Belvoir also report rental increases over the final three months of 2014, and indicates a year on year increase of 4.5% when comparing December 2014 with a year ago. These increases are mainly driven by London, the South East and South West.
Homelet suggest that for new tenancies, the average rent is 6.6% higher than in December 2013, which is also due to higher rents in London and the South East/West.
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