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Landlords in East of England most confident about business prospects
This article is an external press release originally published on the Landlord News website, which has now been migrated to the Just Landlords blog.
In comparison to the end of the previous year, landlord confidence has remained stable, or increased, when examined across a variety of measures.
- Landlords in the East of England most positive about the future
- East and West Midlands rank in top five for rental yield and capital growth
- London landlords most likely to have reduced rent in the last twelve months
Landlords in the East of England most positive about the future, according to a recent survey
East of England
A recent survey by Paragon and the BDRC has found that out of 1,043 landlords, those with properties in the East of England were the most positive about the future. Over half (53%) of those surveyed indicated they felt upbeat about the prospects for their own lettings business over the next three months.
Other key findings from the research included:
- Strong tenant demand in the East regions of the UK supported the business prospects of landlords in the area
- Eight out of ten (81%) of landlords surveyed had said they’d noted that demand for rental accommodation in the area they let property was either stable or increasing
- Similar levels of demand were recorded for the East and West Midlands, where 81% and 76% of landlords respectively reported stable or increasing tenant demand
The East and West Midlands ranked highly too for rental yield and capital gains, with both coming in the top five regions for England and Wales. Typically, higher yields have been seen in areas where capital values or the outlook for capital gains are weak or vice versa.
London
It turns out that landlords in Central London are currently the least optimistic when compared across the country, according to the quarter’s results. Only 26% of the landlords surveyed rated prospects for their own letting businesses as good or very good over the next three months.
Fewer landlords (57%) in Central London reported tenant demand to be stable or increasing than in any other region. In addition, just over a quarter (27%) of Central London landlords were also most likely to have reduced their rental prices in the last twelve months.
John Heron, Managing Director of Mortgages at Paragon said: “After an unprecedented level of change, it’s encouraging to see landlord confidence stabilising this quarter. At a regional level, the East of England and the Midlands look well supported, with encouraging data on tenant demand, yield and capital gains while the London market adjusts its footing after many years of strong growth.”
The Office of National Statistics have just released their latest report for regional labour market statistics for the last month, which has some interesting findings in relation to the research from Paragon:
- The East of England has one of the highest employment rates in the country, at 78.0% of 60 to 64 year olds
- The East Midlands had the highest proportion of jobs in the production sector, at 13.5%
- The UK’s average employment rate is 75.4%, which is up by 0.1% percentage points compared to the previous period
This particularly high employment rate for the East of England could also be contributing to the positivity landlords are feeling towards their futures.
