Healthy Rental Report is a Winter Warmer for Scottish Property Market
Edinburgh, United Kingdom, February 13, 2008 --(PR.com)-- Landlords across Scotland are among the few people seeing benefits from the credit crunch, with demand for rented property being fuelled by economic uncertainty.
Scotland’s only detailed study of the rental sector has shown that both demand and rental prices rose in the final quarter of 2007 – with evidence suggesting that growth is set to continue.
Citylets’ report for Q4 2007 showed an increase in rents, homes being let more quickly and increased tenant demand – all helping to drive up the base index of Scottish rents by 2.6% on the same period in 2006.
Thomas Ashdown, managing director of Citylets said: “In the last report we predicted tighter credit criteria and slowing house price growth would lead to higher tenant demand and from mid-November this turned out to be the case.
“We’ve just seen our busiest January ever, with visitor numbers 41% higher than in 2007. The evidence strongly suggests that although Scottish property price growth remains positive, many would-be-buyers are playing it safe for the moment and are happy to carry on renting.
Aberdeen
Scotland’s rental property pace setter continues to be one bedroom flats in Aberdeen. The oil boom has seen demand far outstrip supply so that the average rent shot up to £561 – almost 19% up on the previous year and 6.2% up on the previous quarter.
One bedroom flats in Aberdeen took just 12 days to let – with almost half snapped up within a week of going on the market and a remarkable 95% let within a month.
However, a sign of a possible slowdown in energy sector employment may have contributed to a slight drop in demand for two bedroom properties in the Granite City. The spikes of high demand seen in Q4 of 2005 and 2006 have not been repeated – indeed average two bed rents dropped 1.2% on the last quarter.
Edinburgh
In Edinburgh the average rent for a one bedroom flat at the end of 2007 was £518, an increase of 4% on the previous year. The average TTL was just 19 days, with 28% gone within in a week and a healthy 79% snapped up in a month.
Two bedroom properties also recorded year-on-year growth of 3.7%, putting average rents at £669.
Glasgow
Scotland’s biggest city also finished 2007 with a period of healthy growth. Average rents for one bedroom properties in the final quarter of the year were £439 – up 3.5% on the 2006 figure. The average TTL – while slower than Aberdeen and Edinburgh – was still only 29 days.
Modest growth was also recorded in Glasgow’s two bedroom sector, where average rents were £578, an increase of 1.6% on the previous year’s figures. The Average TTL was 37 days, with 14% of flats claimed in a week and 50% within a month.
“What seems in little doubt is that landlords and letting agents had a healthy finish to 2007 – and so far a phenomenally busy January. We see no reason why that should abate during the first quarter of 2008.
Citylets was launched in 1999 and is Scotland’s most successful letting portal. A copy of the report is attached is available online at http://www.citylets.co.uk/reports
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Scotland’s only detailed study of the rental sector has shown that both demand and rental prices rose in the final quarter of 2007 – with evidence suggesting that growth is set to continue.
Citylets’ report for Q4 2007 showed an increase in rents, homes being let more quickly and increased tenant demand – all helping to drive up the base index of Scottish rents by 2.6% on the same period in 2006.
Thomas Ashdown, managing director of Citylets said: “In the last report we predicted tighter credit criteria and slowing house price growth would lead to higher tenant demand and from mid-November this turned out to be the case.
“We’ve just seen our busiest January ever, with visitor numbers 41% higher than in 2007. The evidence strongly suggests that although Scottish property price growth remains positive, many would-be-buyers are playing it safe for the moment and are happy to carry on renting.
Aberdeen
Scotland’s rental property pace setter continues to be one bedroom flats in Aberdeen. The oil boom has seen demand far outstrip supply so that the average rent shot up to £561 – almost 19% up on the previous year and 6.2% up on the previous quarter.
One bedroom flats in Aberdeen took just 12 days to let – with almost half snapped up within a week of going on the market and a remarkable 95% let within a month.
However, a sign of a possible slowdown in energy sector employment may have contributed to a slight drop in demand for two bedroom properties in the Granite City. The spikes of high demand seen in Q4 of 2005 and 2006 have not been repeated – indeed average two bed rents dropped 1.2% on the last quarter.
Edinburgh
In Edinburgh the average rent for a one bedroom flat at the end of 2007 was £518, an increase of 4% on the previous year. The average TTL was just 19 days, with 28% gone within in a week and a healthy 79% snapped up in a month.
Two bedroom properties also recorded year-on-year growth of 3.7%, putting average rents at £669.
Glasgow
Scotland’s biggest city also finished 2007 with a period of healthy growth. Average rents for one bedroom properties in the final quarter of the year were £439 – up 3.5% on the 2006 figure. The average TTL – while slower than Aberdeen and Edinburgh – was still only 29 days.
Modest growth was also recorded in Glasgow’s two bedroom sector, where average rents were £578, an increase of 1.6% on the previous year’s figures. The Average TTL was 37 days, with 14% of flats claimed in a week and 50% within a month.
“What seems in little doubt is that landlords and letting agents had a healthy finish to 2007 – and so far a phenomenally busy January. We see no reason why that should abate during the first quarter of 2008.
Citylets was launched in 1999 and is Scotland’s most successful letting portal. A copy of the report is attached is available online at http://www.citylets.co.uk/reports
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Contact
Citylets
Mark Regan
0131 4674867
www.citylets.co.uk
Mark Regan
0131 4674867
www.citylets.co.uk
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