Rents on rise in county
RENTS are on the rise again across Leicestershire but are “stagnating” in Leicester according to the latest figures for the UK’s private rented sector.
New figures from the Valuation Office Agency reveal that on average, a property in Leicester cost £600 a month in the year to March 2021.
That was the same as rents in the year to September 2020, in the year to March 2020, and in the year to September 2019.
The stats for the private rented sector are published twice a year, and are based on a sample of around half a million private rents recorded nationally.
Because they use a limited - although large - sample, the VOA caution against reading too much into trends over time.
However, they do give an indication as to whether rents are rising or falling in an area.
Meanwhile, separate figures from property website Zoopla also show that rents have been falling in several major cities due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Their report identified several factors contributing to this - such as falling demand for properties from overseas workers, students, tourists and corporate travellers, and changes to demographics, working patterns and the financial status of many residents.
Major cities such as Leicester have been most affected by these issues, and in contrast rent has generally continued to rise outside of urban centres. Across the rest of Leicestershire as a whole, average rents have increased from £625 in the year to September 2020 to £645 a month in the year to March.
Within that, Harborough has seen the biggest drop, from £725 to £700 a month, and North West Leicestershire, which includes the towns of Ashby and Coalville, has seen the biggest increase, from £615 to £650.
Rents are now highest in Blaby, where they stood at an average of £725 a month in the year to March - remaining at the level seen in the year to September 2020.
As the VOA figures only go up to March, they don’t yet show how rents have been affected by the latest easing of lockdown.
The city centre downturn, however, is starting to reverse, according to Zoopla, who put the change down to workers starting to return to their offices, leisure activities restarting and renters returning in search of a rental bargain and restoration of their social life.
Gráinne Gilmore, head of research at Zoopla, said: “The opening up of the economy and the slow return to ‘business as usual’ as the vaccine rolls out means demand will continue to build over the summer as more people move to rent their first property – although, as ever, this will be dependent on the economy opening up in line with the planned timetable.
“Demand will continue to rise in city centres as offices start to re-open and this, coupled with increased affordability levels in many cases, will start to counter the negative pressure on rents seen over the last 12 months.”