England 15/11/2012
Increasingly letting agents are finding it difficult to find housing people can afford
The UK’s letting agents are joining a series of voices who are warning the government that people in the UK are now being priced out of the rental market too. It has been obvious for some years that hundreds of thousands of people have been priced out of the housing market despite the fact house prices have fallen. Many people cannot raise the deposit or get a mortgage.
To their credit, the government has recognised the problem and done something about it. There are six schemes in play in the UK to help people from different sectors of society to be able to afford to buy a home. Shared ownership is popular, as is the equity loan scheme called the First Buy scheme.
However, when it comes to the rental market no such schemes exist. The closet the government gets to is the Rent to Buy scheme. This allows people to rent a new home and at a later date use some of what they have paid out in rent as equity to buy that home under a shared ownership scheme. This is interesting for some people, but in areas where rents are high this scheme is not at all effective.
Rental agents make their money when they find tenants. For them not being able to find affordable property in their area is not only frustrating it also affects their bottom line. They have a falling pool of potential clients to fill the properties on their books. Landlords want as much as possible per month for their properties, but there is a tipping point where they price themselves out of the market. In many areas of the UK that point has been reached. The National Housing Federation’s Home Truths 2012 report demonstrates that this is the case, even in some parts of the north.
What letting agents can do
Letting agents like Rent The House are working hard to keep the property market open for as many people as possible. They provide tools that make it easy for potential tenants to search for property within their budget, and be alerted.
http://www.rent-the-house.co.uk/