Is it just me or are rents skyrocketing?

ruggedtoast

Looking to move out of Greenwich where we have a nice 1 bed a couple of minutes from the DLR for less than £800 a month, as we want a larger place with a bit of outdoor space. We've been renting there for several years and price has only gone up £25.

To get the same kind of thing anywhere in London that isnt a chav filled hell hole or someplace English is only spoken as a 3rd language would now cost at least £1000 pcm. A 2 bed is looking at £1250.

When did this happen? Around new year £1000 was plenty to get a 2 bed somewhere like Wimbledon or Willesden Green as long as you didnt want to be right necxt to the Tube.

I just searched 2 beds £1000pcm on Rightmove in some areas we're interested in and.... nothing.

I know theres upward pressure on rents as the housing market has ground to a halt but this seems crazy!

Turnbull2000

Rents seem pretty much stagnant up here in Tyne & Wear, with many properties remaining advertised to let since last Autumn in Tynemouth (where I live) . My own rent hasn't changed in two years, although I am expecting an increase in line with RPI upon contract renewal in June.

I'd imagine rent levels are very much regionalised, with large inward migration into London resulting in competition between tenants. I'm surprised sealed bids have not become common for London tenancies, much like they did in the Australian capital.

WTF?_2

ruggedtoast wrote: »

Looking to move out of Greenwich where we have a nice 1 bed a couple of minutes from the DLR for less than £800 a month, as we want a larger place with a bit of outdoor space. We've been renting there for several years and price has only gone up £25.

To get the same kind of thing anywhere in London that isnt a chav filled hell hole or someplace English is only spoken as a 3rd language would now cost at least £1000 pcm. A 2 bed is looking at £1250.

When did this happen? Around new year £1000 was plenty to get a 2 bed somewhere like Wimbledon or Willesden Green as long as you didnt want to be right necxt to the Tube.

I just searched 2 beds £1000pcm on Rightmove in some areas we're interested in and.... nothing.

I know theres upward pressure on rents as the housing market has ground to a halt but this seems crazy!

I've been saying for some time that the collapse of the housing market is going to send rents upward.

More people looking to rent instead of buy plus less supply of rental properties as BTLers who didn't do their sums go to the wall.

Those same idiot BTLers have been subsidising the rental market for years with their emphasis on capital gains in the value of the house but times are now getting tighter and prices are heading one way (down) so that's no longer an option.

lostinrates

As the stretched BTL go to the all, won't more secure ones snap them up thereby keeping rents high?

(I have never panicked as much in my life before joining here. I spend days alternsating between future financial doom forecasts and wondering which will get me!)

WTF?_2

lostinrates wrote: »

As the stretched BTL go to the all, won't more secure ones snap them up thereby keeping rents high?

(I have never panicked as much in my life before joining here. I spend days alternsating between future financial doom forecasts and wondering which will get me!)

That depends on what the selling prices are. Obviously as the cost of buying a property drops and the possible earnings from renting it out rise there will come a point where it actually makes financial sense to buy to let.

For most of the UK I suspect that point is quite a long way off yet.

(There's the slight matter of raising the likely mortgage needed to buy the property too, in a climate dominated by the credit crunch.)

Austin_Allegro

Don't forget that if the housing crisis deepens, cash-strapped mortgagees may decide to rent out their second bedrooms to lodgers, which will ease demand on the rental sector.

I recall this happened during the last crash - lots of places advertised as 'flat shares' which rather than being like Friends turned out to be surly couples reluctantly admitting 'paying guests'.

Phirefly

Austin_Allegro wrote: »

surly couples

amusing

Barcode

I lived in Greenwich for a while, in the Millennium Village. I think the rent was around £1200 for a two bed flat split between three of us (one couple, plus me). Just checked on rightmove and it's now around £1500 for a similar place.

I'm in Huddersfield now, and in this development, it seems rents have gone down slightly. Our AST is due for renewal in July. If it goes up, we'll more than likely look at the 'penthouses' or duplexes here as they are only about £25 more and would rather have a bit more space. I've seen other two bed flats in this development for about £50 less than what we pay, so the LL should investigate before increasing the rent.

Addy1

Rents round here are more expensive than mortgages, and lots and lots of students plus two large hospitals push rents up. (not to London prices, I am from there originally so I know, but still high in relation to house prices)
That is why we are buying, actually, we will save money on our repayment mortgage compared to rent on a very similar property!
(west midlands)

otter1_2

Perhaps it's a London thing? One of the reasons I'm buying is because my mortgage will be much cheaper than the rent (I'm staying in the same area of London).

beingjdc

We're paying 1235 for a 2-bed 2-bath in South Bermondsey, and it hasn't gone up since Autumn 2006, there's a 1-bed upstairs going for 975 a month, but there's a pretty similar one to ours going up the road for only £5 a week more

http://www.findaproperty.com/displayprop.aspx?edid=00&salerent=1&pid=865480&agentid=03154

It is chav filled hell, but that's life! North London and Wimbledon have been expensive for as long as I can remember, compared to Greenwich. I'd be interested to know where otter1 lives though - I haven't seen an area of london where a mortgage would be less than about 150% of the rent.