Private rental market shrinking drastically as landlords sell up

Over half of rental properties sold in March this year did not return to the rental market, report says

New research reveals full extent of landlords’ exit from private rental market (Getty Images)

The UK property rental market is shrinking drastically, leading a new report to warn that rents could be driven up.

The outnumbering of prospective tenants to rentals may be partly due to pandemic-born patterns of hybrid and remote working, which have allowed people to choose locations without having to consider the office commute, the report by Propertymark, the trade body for estate agents, said.

According to the report, the average number of properties that estate agents in the UK reported they were currently advertising for rent decreased from 30.4 to just 15.6 between March 2019 and March 2022, revealing a significant reduction in places available for renters to live.