The impact of Covid-19 on the rental market – it’s not all bad

While the rental market has been uncertain during Covid-19, Zoopla’s Rental Market Report 2020 Q1 has highlighted some positive key findings which we’ve put in a nutshell for you below.

Q1 has had more peaks and troughs than most quarters in the market, yet there have still been no notable changes in activity level within the rental sector in-line with the Global Pandemic. In fact, according to Zoopla’s report, there has been a 30% rise in tenant demand in the first two weeks of April following on from a 57% drop from 7th-30th March. While during this time the sales market has seen a decrease in demand of 70%, this once again proves the rental market to be a resilient investment with less severe falls in demand and an ability to bounce back much faster.

While the rate of new listings in the market has slowed, there have been large scale withdrawals and it is anticipated that once restrictions are adjusted and removed, the rental market will see a surge in demands in-line with that expected of the busier seasonal periods in Q3 and Q4. Statistics have also shown a rental growth of +2.4% YOY in comparison to just +1.5% in the March last year and properties are spending an average of just 17.7 days on the market in comparison to 19.4 days a year ago – so while we are in the midst of uncertain times, statistics can assure us that the overall market is still on the up.

The new rise in tenant demand has been significantly stimulated by the market’s flexibility in allowing agents to agree terms based virtual/video viewings (which is something we’ve implemented ourselves) and agree rental deals with delayed start dates. It is also important to note that while rental growth slowed throughout January and February month-on-month, and there was a small drop in March, these facts should not only be attributed to Covid-19 as these figures are relatively in-line with usual seasonal trends.