"With rents increasing and an acute shortage of properties being built for sale and to rent, we will surely see this upward trend climb further in the future"
When multiplying the number of tenants in the UK by the average annual rental cost, the estimated annual value of rental payments in the private sector is £51.9 billion.
Their financial contribution would surpass the entire nation of Myanmar with a GDP of £51.8 billion, as well as the economic efforts of Luxembourg (£48.1bn).
While many UK tenants might wish they could swap the UK rental market for a warmer climate such as Panama (£47.6bn), Uruguay (£45.6bn) and Costa Rica (£44.9bn), they can sleep easy in the knowledge that as a combined force, they contribute a greater sum financially than the total GDP of these Central and South American nations.
A little closer to home Bulgaria (£43.8bn), Croatia (£42.2bn) and Belarus (£41.9bn) also fail to match the might of the UK rental sector, while a lot further from home, the GDP of Lebanon and Tanzania also trails the financial contribution of UK tenants.
London could stand on its own two feet with a total annual rental sum of £17.7bn paid each year – outperforming the GDP output of 80 countries around the globe.
As a fraction of the UK’s GDP, private sector rental costs equate to 2.4%, higher than the contribution of agriculture, which accounts for 0.59% of the country’s GDP.
UK rentals are not only outperforming the GDP of actual countries, but they are also surpassing the commercial might of a number of FTSE 100 companies.
In fact, the annual contribution of the UK’s private rental sector rental is a higher value than the market caps of companies like Vodafone (£39.1 billion), Lloyds (£35.5 billion), National Grid (£28.5 billion) and Barclays (£25.5 billion), among others.
Tom Woollard, co-founder of Bunk, commented: “Comparing the market value of the UK rental space to the worth of whole countries not only shows the enormity of what tenants are paying, but also the attractive proposition the buy-to-let sector still presents for landlords despite a number of changes that have dented the profitability of these investments.
"While the most recent UK GDP figures released last week show a slight decline in growth, in contrast, the private rental market continues to see a consistent increase almost across the board.
"With rents increasing and an acute shortage of properties being built for sale and to rent, we will surely see this upward trend climb further in the future - great for landlords, not as good for beleaguered tenants.
"To think, without realising it, the nation’s renters contribute more than the value of countries such as Luxembourg and Costa Rica, even with their apparent wealth in tax-avoidance and coffee, while also dwarfing the commerce giants of Vodafone and Lloyds Bank is actually quite amazing.”
