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West Midlands offers the Most Affordable Rents for Tenants
This article is an external press release originally published on the Landlord News website, which has now been migrated to the Just Landlords blog.
The West Midlands offers the most affordable rents for private tenants in England and Wales, based on an average renter’s annual income divided by their yearly rent costs, according to the latest Rental Index from Goodlord.
The letting agent software platform found that landlords in the West Midlands offer the most affordable rents across the country, at an average of £689 per month. Based on a typical salary of £18,000 amongst tenants in the region, renters spend 24% of their annual income on rent, compared to 29% nationally.
However, landlords in the Midlands – both the East and West – face the longest void periods in the country, at an average of 33 days.
Overall, void periods were down in February for five out of the eight regions in England and Wales, to an average of 23.75 days, from 28.6 in January.
Landlords in London faced the shortest wait for new tenants, at just 13 days on average.
Nevertheless, the least affordable rents in the country were found in the capital, at an average of £1,619 per month, which is a whopping 114% higher than the national average. Tenants in London, however, have the highest typical income, at £36,000 per year.
Despite offering the cheapest rents in the country (£635), rental properties in the North East eat up an average of 44.8% of a tenant’s income, due to their low average salary of £17,000.
In terms of length of tenancy, London offers the longest average fixed term agreement, at 14 months, which is three months longer than the next region, which is the South East.
Landlords, how do these figures compare to your own experiences of rent prices, void periods and tenancy lengths?
Perhaps the data may influence your decision when looking for a new investment property – will you focus on affordable rents or low void periods?
