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Scottish rents are rising at less than a third of the rate seen in the rest of Britain, amidst the controversy of the new Private Housing Bill, according to a new buy to let index report. Average Scottish rents have risen just 1.7% in the past year, less than a third of the rate currently being witnessed in England and Wales, according to the data from lettings agent network Your Move. Year on year the index show that while rents across England and Wales have increased by 6.3% in the past 12 months, annual rent growth in Scotland has plateaued after a summer uplift. The data also shows that rents in Scotland fell 0.3% from August to September 2015, the second consecutive monthly drop in Scottish rents, meaning that the typical rent in Scotland is now 0.8% lower than at its summer peak in July. The average monthly rent in Scotland was £545 in September 2015, compared to £549 in July 2015. However this is 33.3% cheaper than in England and Wales during September. ‘All eyes are on the proposed reforms to the private rented sector in Scotland, but there is a crucial element missing to the debate. Rents are not going up quickly enough to warrant the staggering rise in tenant arrears we’re seeing. Rather, tenant finances have much more to do with deeper rooted societal problems of salaries and employment levels,’ said Brian Moran, lettings director at Your Move Scotland. ‘Over the summer we witnessed a short term surge in rent prices, but this has been superseded more recently with a slower rate of rent growth, which doesn’t even come close to what we’re witnessing south of the border. Scottish rents have been falling for the past few months, and realigning to calmer levels for the autumn. This is even more extraordinary when you consider we’ve just weathered peak lettings season. It’s certainly not a sector spiralling out of control,’ he explained. ‘This auto-correction, and natural flow of the lettings market will be disrupted by artificial interventions from the Government. Private sector landlords could soon face a regulatory minefield, and this may dissuade future investment into buy-to-let at a time when we need to be the sector to grow, not contract. Ultimately, where the supply of rental properties uncouples from demand, rent growth will be massively thrown out of kilter, and tenants will find themselves even more exposed,’ he added. A breakdown of the data shows that all but one region of Scotland has seen rents increase over the past year. The strongest annual rent growth has been recorded in the Highlands and Islands, with rents up 6.4% since September 2014 to reach a new high of £572 per month. This represents the fifth consecutive month that annual rent growth has accelerated in this region, and the fastest year on year increase on record… Continue reading →