Rental demand climbs 6% across the UK’s major cities

October 4, 2019

Innovative lettings management platform, Bunk, has released it’s latest look at the UK rental market and which cities are most in-demand amongst tenants and where has seen the largest uplift since Q2.

Bunk’s index looks at rental listings across all of the major property portals, taking an average demand score for the nation’s major cities based on where has the highest number of properties already let as a percentage of all rental listings.

The research highlights where the highest level of tenant demand currently is based on this supply/demand ratio.

The UK

The latest data shows that rental demand is up 6% quarter to quarter across the UK’s major cities and for the second quarter in a row, Bristol tops the table as the most in-demand location for rental properties. Tenant demand in Bristol is currently at 67.6%, having increased a further 17.5% since Q2.

Nottingham ranks second with demand for rental stock at 54.3%, followed by Cambridge with a demand score of 50%, as well as Bournemouth (42.9%) and Portsmouth (42.8%).

These five cities also account for the largest increases in tenant demand since Q2, with increases of between 11.2% and 18.7%.

Aberdeen remains the least in-demand city for rental demand at 8.9%, with Edinburgh (14.8%) and Newcastle (16.5%) also propping up the bottom of the table.

London 

London rental demand has shot up 8.2% since the second quarter of 2019 with Lewisham topping the table as the most in-demand borough at 48.4%. Bromley (46.2%), Bexley (43.7%), Havering (43.7%) and Islington (43.3%) are also amongst the most in-demand boroughs for tenant demand in Q3.

Islington has also seen the largest uplift in rental demand quarter to quarter, up 17%, while Sutton is the only borough to see a drop since Q2 – down -0.7%.

Kensington and Chelsea, Westminster and Camden are the boroughs home to the lowest level of current tenant demand at 13.4%, 15.4%, and 22.3% respectively.

Co-founder of Bunk, Tom Woollard, commented:

“We continue to see the UK rental sector acting as the backbone of the property market with demand for rental properties climbing yet again.

With the start of the university term, it’s no surprise that some of the UK’s most prominent university towns have seen some of the largest uplifts in rental demand as thousands of students look to secure a place to live while studying.

For buy-to-let landlords, it remains one of the most prominent factors when deciding where to invest in a property and it’s clear why. While you can have the best yields around, they’re not worth a penny without the tenant demand to fill a property and this demand is abundant around the likes of Bristol, Notts, Cambridge, and Bournemouth.”

Top Line
Q2
Q3
Change
UK Cities
25.2%
31.2%
6.0%
London
21.4%
29.6%
8.2%
Major UK Cities Ranked by Quarterly Demand Change
City
Q2
Q3
Change
Nottingham
35.6%
54.3%
18.7%
Bristol
50.1%
67.6%
17.5%
Cambridge
33.5%
50.0%
16.4%
Bournemouth
30.3%
42.9%
12.6%
Portsmouth
31.6%
42.8%
11.2%
Glasgow
25.4%
35.1%
9.7%
Leeds
15.5%
24.1%
8.6%
London
21.4%
29.6%
8.2%
Manchester
26.4%
32.7%
6.3%
Birmingham
23.1%
28.9%
5.9%
Southampton
24.0%
29.6%
5.6%
Liverpool
18.3%
22.9%
4.6%
Leicester
24.7%
29.1%
4.4%
Newcastle
13.9%
16.5%
2.6%
Plymouth
34.5%
36.4%
1.9%
Swansea
16.3%
17.9%
1.6%
Sheffield
22.0%
23.5%
1.5%
Newport
38.7%
40.1%
1.5%
Aberdeen
8.0%
8.9%
0.9%
Edinburgh
14.3%
14.8%
0.5%
Oxford
29.0%
28.8%
-0.3%
Belfast
21.2%
20.9%
-0.3%
Cardiff
21.1%
19.7%
-1.3%
London Boroughs Ranked by Quarterly Demand Change
London Borough
Q2
Q3
Change
Islington
26.3%
43.3%
17.0%
Lambeth
26.2%
41.7%
15.5%
Hackney
27.3%
41.4%
14.1%
Tower Hamlets
24.1%
36.3%
12.2%
Southwark
30.9%
41.5%
10.6%
Haringey
30.3%
40.2%
9.9%
Newham
28.1%
36.8%
8.7%
Enfield
27.1%
35.5%
8.4%
Barnet
19.8%
28.1%
8.3%
Greenwich
32.9%
41.0%
8.1%
City of London
21.1%
28.9%
7.8%
Brent
19.8%
26.7%
6.9%
Hammersmith and Fulham
17.4%
24.2%
6.8%
Wandsworth
29.6%
35.9%
6.3%
Westminster
9.7%
15.4%
5.7%
Lewisham
43.0%
48.4%
5.4%
Hillingdon
27.7%
32.5%
4.8%
Camden
17.9%
22.3%
4.4%
Kensington and Chelsea
9.1%
13.4%
4.3%
Bromley
42.0%
46.2%
4.1%
Bexley
40.1%
43.7%
3.6%
Ealing
21.2%
24.5%
3.3%
Harrow
22.9%
25.7%
2.7%
Merton
37.3%
39.9%
2.6%
Barking and Dagenham
31.2%
33.1%
1.9%
Croydon
36.1%
37.9%
1.8%
Richmond upon Thames
28.1%
29.6%
1.5%
Waltham Forest
38.7%
40.0%
1.3%
Hounslow
25.6%
26.8%
1.2%
Redbridge
31.0%
32.2%
1.1%
Kingston upon Thames
30.7%
31.8%
1.1%
Havering
43.2%
43.7%
0.5%
Sutton
42.5%
41.8%
-0.7%

Properganda PR

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

You May Also Enjoy

Breaking News

Second home hot-spots hit hardest by property slump

New analysis finds second home hot-spots, as well as London, lagged well behind national average growth Rathbones warns of relying on property to fund retirement, with research showing that equity portfolios outperformed housing by six times Housing in areas with high proportions of second homes lost more value in real terms in 2025 than the…
Read More →
New Build for Merseyside
Estate Agent Talk

Strong demand for buyer support schemes

Less than 2% of homes for sale offer buyer support schemes despite strong demand – More than one in three scheme-backed homes already sold as affordability pressures continue to drive buyer demand The latest analysis from London estate agent Benham and Reeves has revealed that homes offering buyers additional support through affordability and purchasing schemes…
Read More →
AI in estate agency letting agency property
Estate Agent Talk

A quarter of homebuyers think AI search will become more important than portals

New research from UK Property Development (UKPD) suggests that artificial intelligence could be poised to reshape the homebuying journey, with a quarter of recent homebuyers believing AI-powered search will soon overtake traditional property portals as the primary tool for finding a home. The findings come from a survey of 500 homeowners who purchased a property…
Read More →
Breaking News

East of England struggling to meet demand for large family homes

The East of England is facing a growing shortage of large family homes, according to new analysis from UK Property Development (UKPD), creating increasing challenges for buyers leaving London in search of more space, better quality of life, and access to one of the capital’s most desirable commuter regions. UKPD analysed live property listings data*…
Read More →
Breaking News

One in four tenants evicted a month ahead of the Renter’s Right Act

New analysis of 150,000 tenancies by COHO reveals that the Renters’ Rights Act (RRA) drove an estimated 73,900 additional tenancy eviction notices since 2023, with nearly 20,000 issued in the final month before the legislation came into force on 1 May. The data released this month by the property management software developer, revealed a sharp rise in evictions,…
Read More →
Breaking News

First-time buyers paying £38K up front

Average cost of buying a first home climbs above £38,000 as removal costs surge New research from Lyons Bowe that the average cost of buying a first home now stands at £38,353, with first-time buyers facing substantial upfront costs beyond the purchase price itself, as removal costs continue to soar. Lyons Bowe examined the average…
Read More →