The statistics that show the rental sector is now a key part of Scottish life
The results from Citylets Quarterly Report covering October-December 2013 shows the private rented sector continued to remain strong and sustainable in 2013, underpinning the increasingly significant role it is playing in Scotland.
The average monthly rent rose just 1% year-on-year to sit at £678, but interest in rental accommodation, which they base on website visitors, continues to grow.
While Edinburgh and Glasgow continue to enjoy a steady yet growing rental market, the report shows renting in Aberdeen is bucking the national trend with average citywide monthly rents soaring to well over the £1000 mark (up 8.2% annually) and showing no sign of abating.
The AB24 post code in Aberdeen – which takes in Old Aberdeen, Woodside and Tillydrone - recorded Scotland’s highest price rises with rents increasing 18.5% year-on-year. One bedroom flats in Aberdeen are the most sought after in Scotland – with properties being snapped up just nine days after being put up for let.
The demand in the city is likely to be fuelled by those employed in the oil industry and its subsiduaries, who live elsewhere in the UK but need a rental pied a terre for a few days a week. Rental prices for all property types are expensive in Aberdeen and its environs, and increasing, hence the extra demand for the smaller properties.
Dan Cookson, Senior Analyst at Citylets, says the statistics from the report underlines the importance the rental sector now plays in Scotland: “When the first issue of the Citylets quarterly report was published in 2007 the housing boom was at its height. It was hard to imagine then the transformation that the private rented sector was about to experience.
“So much has happened in that time: the explosion of the internet as a tool to source properties, rapid expansion of the rental market, improvements in quality and service, the development of new luxury ‘built to rent’ properties and the blurring of the lines between social housing and private rented housing as Housing Associations and councils get involved.
“This all points to clear evidence that validates the role the private rented sector now plays in the fabric of Scottish society.
“Living in rental accommodation in Scotland is a desired lifestyle choice that is here to stay.”
Whether the rise in renting, privately or not, is a choice or a result of tighter lending criteria on mortgages, analysis of the 2011 census findings shows that there has been a revolution in the way we live. Between 2001-2011 the number of people in privately rented property doubled, with the sector accounting for 12.4% of all Scottish households. There are now more private rental tenants (619,000) than either council tenants (608,000) or housing association tenants (507,000). Edinburgh has the largest private rental market of any city in Scotland, sitting at 107,256 people.
The Citylets reports breaks this down into a little more detail by area. Edinburgh has seen average rents rise to £822, a small increase of 0.4% yearon-year, one and two-bed flats recorded the biggest annual rises of 2.3% and 3.8% respectively.
EH3 saw the biggest annual jump with average rents up 4.5% to sit at £967 - but it should be remembered that this is the postcode district which contains The Foundry, a large new build development of rental properties which was successfully released to the market recently and whose data would those figures.
Glasgow experienced a year with average prices very slightly.
However, the city saw significant improvements in the time properties take to let, with three bed properties in particular falling by 16 days.
Rising demand in the G2 post code area accounted for the highest rent rises in Glasgow, a 9.6% increase yearon-year to sit at £731, as well as the being the fastest areas to let properties. The G2 area covers Blythswood Square
affect very stable fluctuating and stretches out to Woodlands and the rise probably reflects the redevelopment of this area into residential accommodation, the Georgian and Victorian townhouses here having long been home to offices.
As expected, the G12 West End area saw the city’s highest rent levels of £877, up 3.7%. But overall, average rents in Glasgow were up 0.5% to sit at £615.
Dundee has also seen its one (3.2%) and two (1.3%) bed flats record the highest average annual rent increases. The DD1 city centre post code tops the average rental price table with the £634 figure up a sizeable 12.2% year-on-year. Demand, as illustrated by the time properties take to let, remain relatively constant although three bed properties saw times fall by nine days reflecting a likely surge in interest for family sized properties in Dundee. Over the whole city, there was just a marginal 0.2% rise (up to £528) on average rents compared with 2012.