16/03/2010 - Rents set to rise in coming months
A fall in the number of homes available to let appears likely to see rents increase during the months ahead, new research has suggested.
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors reported fewer available letting properties on the market for a second consecutive quarter.
And it said a third more surveyors expected the cost of renting a property to rise in the coming three months than those who think it would fall.
Their expectations are being driven by a continued decline in the supply of flats and houses available to let as homeowners who were forced to rent out their properties after being unable to sell them are putting them back on the market again.
The trend led to 23% more chartered surveyors reporting a fall rather than a rise in new landlord instructions in the three months to the end of January, up from 18% more who saw a drop during the previous quarter.
At the same time, the balance of surveyors reporting a rise in rents in the period clawed its way up to zero, following five quarters during which it had been negative, with more surveyors reporting falling rents than those who saw rises.
Demand for rented homes from residential landlords remained strong, with 16% more surveyors seeing a rise in people who wanted to rent a home than those who saw a fall.
Copyright © Press Association 2010
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