The property market has gone crazy. A shortage of supply and a deluge of renters means that we’re living through an unprecedented time for landlords – many of whom can expect to achieve higher rents and have greater freedom to pick and choose their tenants than at any time in recent history… if they’re working with the right agency team, of course.
“The market’s so much more bullish than we’ve seen it in ages – the average time it takes for us to move properties from listed to let is currently 48 hours and it’s often faster than that,” says Lettings Manager Rúben Bernardo.
Market rents on the rise
We know that money isn’t everything, but it is an important factor in the commercial world of the rental market, which is why it’s incredibly satisfying to be able to fairly consistently achieve between 6 and 14% higher than asking price offers for our landlords… that’s just the sort of market we’re looking at right now and the sort of team we have here.
Three recent examples of this are:
- Dalyell Road, Brixton. This 3-bed split-level apartment was only marketed by us for two days and due to the shortage of supply, and no shortage of applicants, we had 27 viewings, received 7 amazing offers and let the property for 6.25% above asking price (asking price was £2,400 pcm and we achieved £2,550 pcm) for our landlord.
- Metro Central Heights, Elephant and Castle. This 2-bed refurbished apartment had 9 viewings, 3 offers and we achieved 10.25% above the asking price (asking price was £1,950 pcm and we achieved £2,150 pcm) for our landlord.
- Charleston Street, Elephant and Castle. This 3-bed refurbished conversion was quickly let for just a little more than 10% over asking price (asking price was £2,225 pcm and we achieved £2,448 pcm) for our landlord.
Why is the market as it is right now?
The million-dollar question: why has the market got so busy in the last few months? The answer is that it’s due to a number of factors all colliding at once.
We’ve recently had an opening up of the UK after Covid and with an increasing amount of confidence in the effectiveness of vaccines to protect us all from serious illness, life can get back to some semblance of normality.
This has meant three important tenant types have found themselves increasingly competing for the properties they like:
- Students. With young people getting back to live lessons at universities across the capital, they all need somewhere to stay for 1 to 4 years and with the UK opening up its borders to a greater degree than many other countries, overseas students have been able to more easily fly into London looking for a certain standard of home from home.
- Professionals. Many organisations are increasingly expecting their staff to return to the office. With this comes the migration of people to accommodation closer to their place of work, increasing demand which pushes up prices. Many are also going through recruitment drives – having seen their workforces dwindle as some have chosen different paths over the lockdowns they now need to replenish their numbers. Some of these new employees will need to move to the capital, others will be drafted in from overseas and will be looking for the right place to live.
- Relocation/secondment. With international travel returning to some degree, it has opened up the possibility of organisations moving staff from overseas offices to London branches/locations and for those who wish to relocate to the UK to make the move. London is jobs rich right now so we can only see this trend increasing over the next 6 to 12 months if the economy remains buoyant.
Boom time offers other advantages
With so many people looking for a place to call home within a dwindling pool of properties, choice is another important factor to consider.
A recent good example of this is a 2-bed refurbished Victorian conversion in Kellet Road, Brixton. The property had suffered from bad tenant syndrome for a while until the landlords asked for our help and moved it to our team to seek out the perfect new tenants. And, after 9 viewings, 2 offers and Zoom calls with both parties to help everyone determine the best fit, lovely new tenants were found for our landlord’s property.
Finally, speed from listing to let is another vital factor dear to every landlord’s heart, sometimes even more important than the rent achieved as vacant periods can hit your pocket hard in no time at all. Well, luckily the current market delivers here as well. Once again, here are a few good examples from the last couple of months.
- Wansey Street, Elephant and Castle was on the market with us for just 1 DAY before we found tenants happy to pay £1,200 pcm (previous rent was £1,050 pcm).
- Burrells Wharf, London E14 only needed to have 1 VIEWING before achieving £1,451 pcm (previous rent was £1,250 pcm) for our landlords.
- Granville Road, Wimbledon, London SW19 had just 3 VIEWINGS before achieving £2,300 pcm (previous rent was £2,210 pcm) for our landlords.
- Dunton Road, Bermondsey, London SE1 had just 2 VIEWINGS before we achieved £1,569 pcm (previous rent was £1,475) for our landlords.
The inevitable sign of boom times
Shortage of supply is an inevitability of market boom times. Properties seem to fly out the door almost as soon as they’re listed, which means that we’re rather keen to find more.
So, if you own a property from a studio flat to a 6-bed luxury townhouse north or south of the river in London, we’d be very interested in offering you a free valuation, and we’re pretty sure you’ll be very interested in how much the rent may have gone up in just the last few months.
Our job is to find the right combination of speed, price and choice to suit your needs, to find the best tenants and to keep them happy and supported so that they’ll renew their agreement to minimise any possibility of vacant downtime for your investment properties. All you have to do is to choose the right letting and management team to look after your properties… …if you feel that might be us, call our valuations team on 0207 401 2020 and we’ll give you our honest opinion on rental prospects and how you may be able to maximise them.