Private rents fall in UK’s largest cities by up to 12% amid COVID-19 crisis
Central London and Edinburgh city are the most affected areas.
Private rents in some of the UK’s largest urban centers have fallen by as much as 12% in one year, but have risen dramatically in parts of northern England as some tenants swapped urban life for suburbs, towns, and villages smaller.
The latest rental trends report from the Rightmove property website said the pandemic had caused a drop in requested rents and a “flood” of properties coming on the market in many areas.
Central London has been “the hardest hit,” the website said, with an average markdown of 12.4% over the previous year, followed by central Edinburgh, which was down 10%, and central Manchester, 5.3%.
Away from city centers, the situation was different, with agents reporting on busy markets and rising rents.
Rightmove named the three fastest-growing areas outside of London as Durham City, Keighley City in West Yorkshire, and Wigan in Greater Manchester.
In Durham, the average monthly rent for a two-bedroom property jumped from £ 543 in the fourth quarter of 2019 to £ 632 in the same quarter last year, an increase of 16.4%. The equivalent annual increases for Keighley and Wigan were 14.6% and 11.2%, respectively.
Rightmove took a closer look at the centers of 10 of the UK’s largest cities and said that there were regions where requested rents were still increasing annually, including Bristol and Liverpool, although the 2% increase in both locations was below average national 3.7%.
The number of rental properties on Rightmove more than doubled in some city centers, with the biggest jumps in Leeds, London, and Nottingham.
Tim Bannister, Rightmove’s director of property data, said his findings on rents “represent a challenge for some homeowners, but also an opportunity for tenants who can make a longer-term decision and move downtown now at a more attractive rent than this time last year.”
“It is difficult to predict with certainty how the market will behave in the following months, for example, many expected a considerable improvement for the rental market, but the second lockdown has thrown these plans overboard. With so many ups and downs, any forecast we can make does not mean it will come true. For now, it is best to observe changes in the market, avoid buying or selling properties, etc.”
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