Are landlords really selling up? Number of new homes available to rent, revealed

Labour’s rent reforms have sparked warnings that they will trigger a surge of landlords selling up – but new figures from Rightmove suggest the number of homes available to rent is surging.

Landlord lobby groups and Tory peers have warned for months that the Renters’ Rights Bill, which is currently being scrutinised at the committee stage in the House of Lords, will trigger a landlord exodus.

Rightmove’s Rental Tracker statistics, released on Tuesday (28 April), tell a different story. 

The property site found the number of new properties coming to the market in March was 11% ahead of the same period last year while the overall number of rental properties is 18% up on 2024 just months before the legislation is set to come into force this summer.

Tom Darling, director at the Renters’ Reform Coalition, said: “Time and again landlord groups have threatened a mass selloff in response to renters receiving basic rights and protections. Yet now, with the passage of the Renters’ Rights Bill right around the corner, market data shows the ‘landlord exodus’ has not only failed to materialise, but supply is actually increasing.

“However, the already unsustainable cost of renting still continues to only move in one direction – up – pushing renters in England out of their homes and communities every week. The government must get a grip on soaring rents and introduce a cap on in-tenancy rent rises, to prevent these economic evictions and keep renters in their homes.”

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Rightmove lettings expert Christian Balshen said the Renters’ Rights Bill is likely to have limited impact on the rental market despite the warnings that landlords walking away could lead to higher rents.

“I don’t expect the Renters’ Rights Bill to have much of an impact on market activity, but there are a lot of wider implications for tenants and landlords,” said Balshen. “The banning of rent in advance for example, may make it more difficult for some types of tenants to secure a home, particularly in high-demand areas. 

“Supply and demand in the rental market is really varied at the moment across Great Britain. The number one thing landlords will still want is a good, reliable, long-term tenant, and there’s likely to be even more emphasis on this once the bill comes into effect.”

Rightmove said the average number of enquiries per rental property over the three-month period was 12, compared to 16 between January and March last year. But that remains above double the average of five recorded back in 2019.

There are also significant geographical differences in supply and demand with a typical rental home in London seeing eight enquiries compared to an average of 18 in the north-west of England.

Rightmove said an increase in first-time buyers at the start of the year is likely taking some demand away from the rental market, reporting that a quarter of rental properties on the site have seen a reduction in their advertised price.

Marc von Grundherr, director at Benham and Reeves estate agents in London said: “We’ve seen a strong start to the year, with a surge in new listings entering the market, while tenant demand levels remain robust. The majority of landlords haven’t been particularly fazed by the Renters’ Rights Bill. In essence, those providing good quality accommodation have little to worry about.”

There is worse news for tenants in terms of rental prices. The average advertised rent outside of London hit a new record high of £1,349 a month on Rightmove between January and March, albeit with the smallest increase since 2020 at 4.5% higher than last year.

Meanwhile, London rents rose by 0.1% over the same period, reaching an average of £2,698 a month – the 14th consecutive record high that Rightmove has recorded.

Despite the eye-watering prices, the Renters’ Rights Bill has few measures to tackle the affordability of rental homes.

Instead it is focused on scrapping no-fault evictions and introducing a decent homes standard to boost security and safety for renters as well as shifting the power balance between landlords and tenants.

Big Issue founder and crossbench peer Lord Bird has submitted amendments to the bill in the House of Lords which “would bring the majority of the act into force on the day that it passes, with the exception of some areas where regulations or consultation are needed”.

Lord Bird said: “The rental market remains strong, regardless of the impending arrival of the Renters’ Rights Bill. Landlords who are already providing quality accommodation for their tenants have rightly recognised that these reforms leave them little to worry about, and the lucrative income that can be gained from the current rental market remains a clearly attractive proposition.

“The Renters’ Rights Bill must not be watered down at this final stage of scrutiny in the Lords due to unfounded fears of a mass landlord exodus from the market. We must rebalance the landlord-tenant scales of power urgently. There can be no more delay to this overdue political promise – that’s why I have tabled an amendment calling for an end to section 21 no-fault evictions on the very same day the Renters’ Rights Bill is passed into law.”

Richard Lane, chief client officer at StepChange Debt Charity, said private renters are still struggling to keep up with record-high rents.

StepChange polling showed one in two renters have found it difficult to keep up with bills and credit commitments in the last few months, compared to 38% of all UK adults.

“Rental prices reaching a record high has become an all too familiar headline in recent years, and will come as no surprise to private renters – a group who are particularly vulnerable to financial hardship,” said Lane. “Many renters see their monthly income swallowed up by housing costs, before they’re even able to consider food and utilities – many of which have also seen big jumps in prices this month.

“The bill doesn’t address the fundamental issue of housing unaffordability, which pushes private renters into unstable tenures and poor quality homes. With tenants often facing the sharp end of the cost of living crisis, the government must take further action to protect them and prevent them from falling into persistent problem debt.”

While a rise in the number of properties available to rent should ease price rises, Rightmove said the number of tenants looking to move is still 10% higher than compared to before the pandemic in 2019 while the number of available properties is down by a third.

Angharad Trueman, president of ARLA Propertymark, the professional body for letting agents, said: “Fundamentally, this spike is not enough to meet demand long-term and we are unlikely to see any improvement in rent levels without the acknowledgment from various governments across the entire UK as to the importance that the private rented sector plays in housing the nation and the introduction of incentives for landlords to invest in the sector.”

The imbalance between supply and demand has led to calls for more social housing to be built to reduce the number of people relying on the private rented sector for a place to live.

Labour has announced plans to build 1.5 million homes while in power, including increasing the number of social homes.

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