Lockdown rental stock shortage will see rents and deposits climb

May 4, 2020

Research by rental deposit replacement scheme, Ome, has highlighted how a lockdown reduction in rental stock entering the market could result in higher rental and deposit costs for UK tenants.

Ome investigated the percentage of buy to let mortgage loans approved over the last five years as a percentage of all loans. The figures from the Financial Conduct Authority show that the number of landlords entering the market with new stock has slowly declined every year since 2015 with an average annual drop of -1%.

At the same time, the value of the buy to let market has also diminished at an average annual rate of -1% a year, now worth £35,661m compared to £37,424m in 2015.

Despite a declining level of stock entering the market, there has been growing demand which has seen the average UK rent climb by an annual average of 4% each year since 2015, now at £743 a month compared to £627 in 2015. The average cost of a rental deposit has also increased at an average rate of 3% each year over the last five years.

A similar increase this year would see the average rent hit £776, while the average deposit would reach almost £900 despite the recently introduced five week deposit cap. However, Ome predicts that any lasting reduction in rental stock due to the current pandemic could result in a much larger increase in cost for UK tenants in the long term.

United Kingdom
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
Average Annual change
Buy to let (% of gross advances)
16.81
16.04
13.43
13.02
12.96
change
-0.76%
-2.62%
-0.40%
-0.07%
-1%
Buy to Let VALUE – £millions
37,424
40,129
35,182
35,731
35,661
change
7.2%
-12.3%
1.6%
-0.2%
-1%
Average rent
£627
£643
£656
£677
£743
change
2.6%
1.9%
3.2%
9.8%
4%
Average Deposit
£758
£766
£777
£790
£858
Change
1.1%
1.4%
1.7%
8.6%
3%
Sources
Lending statistics – Buy to Let
Average private rent statistics
England
Wales
Scotland
Northern Ireland

Properganda PR

National and local media coverage for property businesses. Journo quotes delivered in minutes.

You May Also Enjoy

Breaking News

July’s HMRC Property Transactions Report

Headline statistics Headline statistics from the latest transactions data include: the provisional seasonally adjusted estimate of the number of UK residential transactions in July 2026 is 96,710, 1% lower than July 2025 and 2% lower than June 2026 the provisional non-seasonally adjusted estimate of the number of UK residential transactions in July 2026 is 106,620, 5% higher than July…
Read More →
Breaking News

Almost half of homesellers hit by broken chains

The latest research from House Buyer Bureau has revealed that almost half of home sellers who form part of a property chain have seen that chain break during the sales process, with buyers changing their minds and pulling out by far the most common reason why.   House Buyer Bureau commissioned an independent survey of 1,072…
Read More →
Social Housing 2019
Breaking News

Only 1 in 10 new-build homebuyers happy

Just 1 in 10 new-build buyers got the home they wanted before moving in   The latest research from UK Property Development (UKPD) has found that just 11% of people who purchased a new-build home in the past two years were able to personalise their property exactly as they wanted before moving in. As a…
Read More →
Breaking News

One-third of tenant income in the UK goes on rent

Lomond’s Summer 2026 Quarterly Insights report reveals tenants now spend an average of 32.7% of their yearly income on rent UK average rents rise to £1,369pcm, increasing by +4.3% in the same period last year Average rent in London reaches £2,418pcm, 76% higher than the UK average The average age of renters across the UK is now 31.5   Lomond, the UK’s leading network of lettings and sales agents, has…
Read More →
Finance

Six in 10 UK businesses look to adapt operations in response to extreme heat

37 per cent have increased heat-related investment, with 23 per cent considering it Cooling equipment, including air conditioning and ventilation, is the most common investment priority (28 per cent) Barclays anonymised client data shows that air conditioning suppliers saw cash inflows increase by 4.3 per cent year-on-year into Barclays accounts Consumers claim 25.1°C is their…
Read More →
Letting Agent Talk

Weathering RRA: It’s Not a Storm, It’s the Climate

Opinion: This Isn’t a Storm Agents Can Wait Out – It’s the New Climate By Sally Lawson    “Agents are heads-down, working their asses off to survive the RRA changes, to the detriment of everything else. But in order to get where they’re thriving too, agents must refocus and rebuild to make back the property…
Read More →