The headlines from the Q1 2022 Rental Market Report from Hometrack are:
- UK annual rental growth for new lets rises to 11% in Q1 2022 as demand continues to outstrip supply
- Rents have bounced back from a -1% fall a year ago
- Wage growth hit 8.8% last year, and cumulatively, UK rental growth has not kept pace with earnings or inflation since 2016
- Rental demand is particularly acute in city centres as students, office workers and international demand returns
- The rise in rents is pushing up the affordability metrics, to 37% of gross income for a single earner, and 18.5% for sharers
- Tenancy lengths continue to rise, signalling that some renters may be ‘rolling over’ their rental contract with lower rent rises
- Rental growth will start to slow in H2 as the ‘bounce-back’ eases and more challenging economic conditions emerge
You can read the full report online for Q1 2022 Hometrack Rental Market Report on the Hometrack website.