The UK rental market begins to recover after a difficult period

According to a study carried out by Goodlord’s Lettings Activity Tracker, it was known that the rental market in the United Kingdom began to recover after suffering falls in March and April.

An increase is reflected between April 12 and May 7. With a 45% increase in new applications, and a 22% increase in completed tenancies.

It should be noted that the lockdown measures came into effect on March 17, from that day until April 14, the new lease requests suffered a 72% drop. This translated into a standstill in the market compared to this same period in 2019.

“The past month has been a very difficult one for rental agents.”

Tom Mundy, Goodlord’s Chief Operating Officer, said: “The last month has been very difficult for letting agents. The business suffered a crash as we have never seen before. There was no precedent whatsoever; the decrease in lease requests took us by surprise and threatened to cause a complete stoppage in operations.”

“Things are slowly recovering; for the first time during the pandemic, the numbers have shown a positive increase. It may be early to think about it, but the numbers show improvement rates, we can say there is hope.”

“We can highlight several positive things; this increase will help rental agents to survive this period. Besides, when the lockdown and social distancing measures are completely lifted, it will be easier to reactivate the market.”

“In the next few weeks, there will be a bigger increase.”

Mundy also commented on what can be expected in the coming weeks: “The coming days are very relevant, if these numbers can be maintained for a couple of weeks, we will begin to notice a significant impact on the UK rental market; once the quarantine lockdown is over, things will improve dramatically.”

“There are currently many of these requests on hold, which means that demand is building up week after week, this will be very positive for the market once everything is back to normal.”

“However, this will have a double-edged effect. Sales will decrease while rents will increase. This is because people will still be very cautious for a few months and would rather rent than buy.”

“There will be an opportunity for rental agents to recoup some of what they lost due to the Coronavirus. We are witnessing the start of a better time for all UK property markets; it is a matter of time for things to improve.”

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