Rental Demand Set To Continue

It’s been an interesting year so far, with economic turmoil and Brexit at the heart. And quite rightly, that leads to concerns for landlords about how the rental market will continue going forwards.

But at Cross & Co, we’re happy there’s no apparent fluctuation – in fact – demand is higher than ever.

Why Is This?

We put this down to a few things… firstly, the fact that so many people want to live in this country.  That’s not going to change any time soon. And these people will always need homes. As the Government (and previous governments) have failed to build enough houses to keep up with the growing and ageing population, that’s created a shortage of properties for sale. And so the rental market continues to stay buoyant.

There are three main sectors of UK housing – those that own and occupy; social housing (owned and let by councils or housing associations), and then there’s the private rented sector. Social housing stocks have depleted (for example – look at all the residents of Grenfell tower who have not yet been housed). Again, this means more demand for homes owned by private landlords.  Just as an example, councils in the UK spend a combined £2m per day on temporary accommodation for homeless families.

There have been attempts to tackle this of course, but many developments are being rushed out in an attempt to deal with the housing crisis… resulting in poor quality workmanship and sub-standard houses. Here’s an interesting article to this effect in the Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/money/2017/mar/11/why-are-britains-new-homes-built-so-badly

And so this goes part way to explaining why the private rented sector (PRS) is predicted to grow by up to 40 per cent over the next 10 years.

Which all means landlords can rest easier, assured of continuing demand. At Cross & Co, we’d be more than happy to sit down with you to discuss your requirements and how your property could benefit from our services.