The House Party – Which political party has been best for tenants and landlords?

September 2, 2019

Independent letting and sales agent, Benham and Reeves, has looked at which political party has had the most impact on the UK rental market and which way you might want to be voting depending on whether you’re a landlord or tenant.

Benham and Reeves looked at the average rental cost across England between the joint tenure of Labour’s Tony Blair and Gordon Brown between 1997 and 2009 and during the more recent reign of Tory duo, Cameron and May.

The Tories have seen the highest average rent during their time in power at £767 per month. This is an increase of £218 or 34.1% on the average monthly rent between 2010 and 2019 – a 3.4% jump each year.

When splitting it between David and Theresa, David presided over the greatest hike in rents of both Tory leaders. In his six years in charge, the average rent was £717 per month and increased a total of 23.1%, an average of 3.9% per year. On the other hand, rents under Theresa did average £848 per month but only increased by 2.3% in her four years which is just 0.6% a year on average. Great for tenants for sure. But for landlords? Not so much.

On the face of it, Labour’s time in power was far more tenant-friendly with the average monthly rent hitting just £437 over the 13 years since Tony Blair took over in 1997. But when looking at the growth of rents during this time the figures tell an entirely different story. When Labour came into power, the average monthly rent was just £334 but by the time Gordon Brown left Number 10 this had soared by 86.9% to £624 per month. That’s an increase of £290 per month and an average yearly hike of 6.7%. ‘For the many, not the few’? Where rents are concerned, perhaps that’s debatable?

While Tony oversaw a rental increase of 39.67% in nine years, this averages out at 4.4% a year, while Gordon Brown’s rental increase of 28.8% averages out at a huge 7.2% during his four years.

So there you have it, Gordon Brown destroyed rental affordability while Theresa was the best of the bunch and now we have Boris – you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.

But what about landlords?

Yields have dropped during the time both parties were in power due to almost continuous house price growth, averaging 4.5% per year under both Labour and the Conservatives.

However, they fell by an average of -2.6% per year from 1997 to 2009 under Labour – a total fall of -33.61%, but just -0.3% per year under the Conservatives, down -2.8% in total.

Blair oversaw the largest average yearly yield at 4.9% but saw a total drop of -3.4% during his time as PM, a fall of -0.4% per year.

Gordon oversaw the lowest average yearly yield at 3.8% per year but yields actually climbed 1.2% in total, a lift of 0.3% a year.

David Cameron and Theresa May saw a similar uplift in yields averaging 4.6% and 4.2% per year, both seeing a small increase during their time as PM and, with no average yearly growth under Cameron but a 0.1% uplift for each year under May.

Director of Benham and Reeves, Marc von Grundherr, commented:

“Probably not the first criteria that you would consider when deciding on your political allegiance but politics and a party’s housing plans can have a big impact on issues of supply and affordability within the rental market, so who you vote for could very well impact upon your personal living arrangements.

We’re not taking sides either way, but on the face of it, Labour has been the most questionable party in power if you’re a tenant struggling with rent affordability, while in terms of investing in the buy-to-let sector, flip a coin as they’re all as mediocre as each other really.”

Rents
Government
Period
Average Rent During Tenure
Total Change (%)
Yearly Rental Increase (%)
Labour
1997-2009
£437
86.9%
6.7%
Conservative
2010-2019
£767
34.1%
3.4%
PM
Years as PM
Average Rent During Tenure
Total Change (%)
Yearly Rental Increase (%)
Gordon Brown
4
£564
28.8%
7.2%
Tony Blair
9
£381
39.7%
4.4%
David Cameron
6
£717
23.1%
3.9%
Theresa May
4
£843
2.3%
0.6%
Yields
Government
Period
Average Yield During Tenure
Total Change (%)
Yearly Yield Change (%)
Labour
1997-2009
4.46%
-33.6%
-2.6%
Conservative
2010-2019
4.54%
-2.8%
-0.3%
PM
Years as PM
Average Yield During Tenure
Total Change (%)
Yearly Yield Change (%)
Gordon Brown
4
3.8%
1.2%
0.3%
Tony Blair
9
4.9%
-3.4%
-0.4%
David Cameron
6
4.6%
0.2%
0.0%
Theresa May
4
4.2%
0.2%
0.1%

 

Government
Prime Minister
Ave Rent (per month)
 
Average House Price
 
Yield %
Year
England
 
Year
England
 
Year
England
Labour
Tony Blair
1997
£334
 
1997
£59,160
 
1997
6.77%
Labour
Tony Blair
1998
£333
 
1998
£64,301
 
1998
6.22%
Labour
Tony Blair
1999
£326
 
1999
£70,070
 
1999
5.59%
Labour
Tony Blair
2000
£344
 
2000
£80,814
 
2000
5.10%
Labour
Tony Blair
2001
£357
 
2001
£90,306
 
2001
4.75%
Labour
Tony Blair
2002
£417
 
2002
£107,981
 
2002
4.63%
Labour
Tony Blair
2003
£422
 
2003
£130,218
 
2003
3.89%
Labour
Tony Blair
2004
£427
 
2004
£152,314
 
2004
3.36%
Labour
Tony Blair
2005
£466
 
2005
£163,570
 
2005
3.42%
Labour
Gordon Brown
2006
£484
 
2006
£174,351
 
2006
3.33%
Labour
Gordon Brown
2007
£536
 
2007
£190,025
 
2007
3.38%
Labour
Gordon Brown
2008
£612
 
2008
£182,379
 
2008
4.03%
Labour
Gordon Brown
2009
£624
 
2009
£166,558
 
2009
4.50%
Labour Average Rent (per month)
£437
 
Labour Average HP
£125,542
 
Labour Average Yield
4.54%
Change growth (1997-2009)
86.9%
 
Change growth (1997-2009)
181.5%
 
Change in yield (1997-2009)
-33.61%
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Conservative
David Cameron
2010
£640
 
2010
£177,472
 
2010
4.33%
Conservative
David Cameron
2011
£696
 
2011
£175,229
 
2011
4.77%
Conservative
David Cameron
2012
£705
 
2012
£177,488
 
2012
4.77%
Conservative
David Cameron
2013
£728
 
2013
£182,581
 
2013
4.78%
Conservative
David Cameron
2014
£742
 
2014
£197,771
 
2014
4.50%
Conservative
David Cameron
2015
£788
 
2015
£211,174
 
2015
4.48%
Conservative
Theresa May
2016
£839
 
2016
£227,337
 
2016
4.43%
Conservative
Theresa May
2017
£831
 
2017
£238,161
 
2017
4.19%
Conservative
Theresa May
2018
£844
 
2018
£245,065
 
2018
4.13%
Conservative
Boris Johnson
2019
£858
 
2019
£244,882
 
2019
4.20%
Conservative Average Rent (per month)
£767
 
Conservative AverageHP
£207,716
 
Conservative Average Yield
4.46%
Change growth (2011-2019)
34.1%
 
Change growth (2011-2019)
38.0%
 
Change in yield (2011-2019)
-2.84%

 

 

Sources:
Prime Ministers in power

 
Private Rents
Gov
 
CCHPR
 
Statista
 
Gov
 
Gov Archive
Av. House Price
Gov / Land Reg

 

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