New data shows that the number of tenant households in the UK has increased dramatically in the last ten years and there are lots of rental property hot spots across the country. Ten years ago there were only eight areas of the UK with a relatively high percentage of rental properties, but now there are 51, which is a big increase.
New Emerging Rental Hotspots
A decade ago, the main rental hotspots were London, the Southwest, and large parts of west Wales. Today the situation is very different and although London remains a rental property hotspot, there are a number of other areas where there are large concentrations of renters as opposed to owner-occupiers. Several seaside towns along the south coast are very popular with tenants; Hastings, Brighton, Eastbourne and Torbay all have between 20% and 40% of housing in the private rented sector. Other hotspots include Liverpool, Salford, Newmarket, Nottingham and Leicester. In fact there are very few areas of the UK without rental properties, which is a massive change in the last ten years.
Top 5 Rental Property Hotspots
1. Bournemouth
2. Brighton and Hove
3. Hastings
4. Manchester
5. Oxford
The Winds of Change
The current economic conditions are in part to blame for this seismic shift towards renting as opposed to buying property. The younger generation can no longer afford to jump on to the property ladder because of the huge deposits required to secure a mortgage and the older generation are being forced to sell their homes in order to cover the cost of retirement and care.
