Taylor Scott International News
There was a last minute end of year surge in Scottish rent growth with average residential rents up 0.4% in December, the highest monthly rise since June, the latest index report shows. This was uptick from a modest 0.1% rise the previous month and took the average monthly rent in Scotland to £548, just £1 below the summer peak reached in July, according to the data from lettings agent network Your Move. On an annual basis, rent growth is also starting to accelerate. Year on year rent rises had been steadily slowing since June when they stood at 3.1% but Scottish rents are now on average 2.2% higher than a year ago, up from 1.4% in the 12 months to November. The rise is due to a shortage of supply and an improvement in wages means that tenants can afford the rents, according to Brian Moran, lettings director at Your Move Scotland. ‘Outside of the summer months, the New Year often sees the second biggest cycle of new tenancies, and ushers in a busy time for the lettings market. It’s the period where people typically take up fresh career opportunities, and implement new life changes and this wave is already evident in the uptick of rents over November and December, as savvy tenants act quickly to beat the January rush,’ he explained. He pointed out that one major factor likely to affect the market in 2016 include the extra 3% property tax on buy to let properties from April. ‘It is likely to distort the natural flow of the market, with any further buy to let investment likely to be front loaded into the early months of the year. Once that deadline passes, and if investment into the private rented sector becomes more hesitant, tenants’ rents may become much more exposed to the problem of supply,’ added Moran. A breakdown of the figures show that in December, three of five regions saw month on month rent increases. The South saw the biggest with average rents rising 1.3% while Edinburgh and the Lothians saw a rise of 0.7% and Glasgow and the Clyde up by 0.5%. The Highlands and Islands saw the most significant monthly fall in rents in December with a fall of 0.9% while in the East of Scotland they fell by 0.3% month on month. On an annual basis, rents are higher across four of the five regions of Scotland. The biggest rise was in the Highlands and Islands with rents up 4.9%, Edinburgh and the Lothians they increased 4.8%, in Glasgow Clyde rents were up by 0.2% and in the East of Scotland rents dropped 0.7%. The report also shows that while there is typically a seasonal spike in arrears around the Christmas period, tenant arrears in Scotland dropped for the second month in a row in December, with the proportion of rent in arrears falling to 11.9% of… Taylor Scott International
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