Fall of up to 20% in some rents

Recent figures have shown that there has been a fall of up to 20% in the cost of some rents in the London area, despite another recent report that showed some rents in the area had been rising by up to 8% per year. Officials have said that many people have put properties up for rent, and a reduction in demand has resulted in landlords having to reduce rents.

According to the report many landlords have been hoping that they can get through the global credit crunch by charging higher rents on their properties, and with many consumers unable to get a mortgage due to tighter credit conditions the demand for rental properties has been high. Rents have been rising for around a year now, but recently landlords have had to cut the rent on their properties in order to get tenants.

One of the reasons behind this could be that more and more homeowners are finding it harder to sell their homes, and as a result of this many are putting their properties up for rent instead, which has resulted in an increase in the number of rental properties available.

With regards to the number of rental properties coming onto the market recently one industry official stated: ‘We have noticed a huge increase in stock in the last three to four months, while inquiries have increased only marginally.’