A recent survey by the UK’s largest estate agency group, Countrywide, has recorded record breaking figures in the property rental market over the course of the last 12 months with 275,000 new tenants registering to rent properties with Countrywide in the last year, a 24% increase compared to 2010.
The latest Countrywide survey utilised data from across its network of more than 300 branches nationwide to compile the results. The study found that August was the busiest month for rentals in the history of Countrywide since the company’s records began in 2004. London saw the biggest surge in lettings with a 35% increase in the number of tenant applications.
On average in 2011, properties took 13.6 days to let signalling a reduction of 1.2 days compared to the average length of time it took to find tenants for a property in 2010. While Countrywide found that the vast majority of tenants were couples aged less than 35 years, the estate agency group also picked up on a growing trend amongst families to take out rented accommodation.
The Countrywide data also found that more and more people are renting out property as an investment with 53.1% of new landlords in 2011 investing in a buy-to-let property for the very first time or are small time investors with less than three rental properties in their portfolio.
