Scottish rental growth showing stability

New data released by Your Move Scotland has revealed that residential rents in the country either increased or showed stability between October and November 2016.

This took the average rent in Scotland to £569 per month.

Scottish Rents

The most expensive rents in Scotland are found in Edinburgh and the Lothians, with rents here growing by 4.9% year-on-year.

Edinburgh saw average rents reach an average of £645 per calendar month. The next most expensive location was Glasgow and Clyde, where rents hit £577 per month.

Rents however are not rising at an equal rate. Rents in Glasgow and Clyde are up by 0.9% year-on-year while those in the Highlands and Islands actually fell by 7.8%.

Overall, the East of Scotland is the cheapest place to rent a property. However, rents did rise here by 0.2% month-on-month and by 0.8% year-on-year.

In addition, the report shows that yields and tenant finances have also remained fairly steady. The average rental yield currently stands at 5%-greater than those in both England and Wales, where typical yields stand at 4.7%.

Scottish rental growth showing stability

Arrears

Scotland saw some 10.8% of all tenancies in arrears of over one day or more in November 2016. This was greater than the 7.9% recorded in October, but behind September’s 12.5% total.

However, this figure was greater than the 8.3% arrears rate seen in England and Wales in the same month. In absolute terms, the number of Scottish households in serious arrears (two months or more) was 9,753 in October 2016.

Brian Moran, lettings director of Your Move Scotland, observed: ‘Landlords and tenants will both be happy to see overall tenant finances improve and this shows the Scottish rental market is in a stable position at present. Yields remain strong and above the level seen in most of England and Wales despite concerns about the wider economy.’[1]