According to the figures, the lettings market has 15% less stock than a year ago with the lack of available homes for renters particularly pronounced in the capital - down 21%. This is part of a three-year decline in the capital's rental stock of 51%.
The scarcity of homes has seen the average rent for a two-bedroomed property rise between March 2019 and March 2020 in all regions except East Anglia, where it has remained the same at £850.
In Greater London, the typical monthly rent (median) of a two-bedroomed property in the six months to March 2019 compared to the six months to March 2020 rose from £1,695 to £1,755. Over the same time frame and property type, rents increased in the South East from £950 to £975; in the East Midlands, Scotland and Wales from £600 to £625; from £485 to £495 in the North East; from £535 to £550 in Northern Ireland; and from £593 to £600 in the North West.
Elsewhere, the increase was £550 to £575 in Yorkshire and Humber; from £650 to £675 in the West Midlands; and from £750 to £775 in the South West.
Year-on-year, landlords in many regions are seeing their rental yields grow or remain high.
While this is welcome news for buy-to-let investors, this growth is also vital for the wider property market as rental yields fundamentally underpin house prices. Areas, where yields are rocketing, are set to see a boost in the value of homes in the sales market, says Home.co.uk.
From March 2019 to March 2020, the average rental yield rose in five regions: in Yorkshire and Humber from 5.3% to 5.4%; in the South West from 4.6% to 4.7%; in the East Midlands from 5.1% to 5.2%; in the North East from 6.1% to 6.3%; and in Wales from 5.7% to 5.8%.
Yields have remained the same over the last year in the West Midlands at 5.4%.
Meanwhile, rental yields remain high in the following regions despite slight decreases: in Greater London from 5.1% to 5.0%; in Northern Ireland from 6.8% to 6.6%; in the North West from 5.9% to 5.8%; in the South East from 4.6% to 4.5%; in East Anglia from 4.5% to 4.4%; and in Scotland from 6.7% to 6.5%.
Amidst all the current disarray due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we might remember the words of Baron Rothschild, an 18th-century British nobleman. He is credited with saying "Buy when there's blood in the streets, even if the blood is your own."
He should know. Rothschild made a fortune buying in the panic that followed the Battle of Waterloo against Napoleon.
