The start of 2024 has seen a big change in the Edinburgh rental market.
After 2 years of low levels of available properties, fierce competition from tenants for new properties and fast rising rents, the rental market appears to be slowing down in Edinburgh.
AVAILABLE PROPERTY VOLUMES ARE UP
The number of available properties on the rental market in Edinburgh on Rightmove at the end of February was 891. That’s 84% higher than the same time last year. There have been just over 30% more listings added to the market in the first 2 months of 2024 compared to 2023. This somewhat explains the higher number of available properties on the market, but there’s evidence that tenant demand and rental property supply is coming closer together after a brutal two years for tenants trying to find somewhere to live.
SLOWER MARKET CAUSING RENTS TO COOL
Time-to-lets are getting longer (this is the average time it takes for a flat to be advertised before a suitable tenant offer has been accepted) and rents agreed are coming down. This shows that property supply and tenant demand in the market is closer to being balanced than it’s been for at least the last 3 years.
GOOD NEWS FOR TENANTS?
It’s undoubtedly good news for anyone looking for a rental property compared to periods in recent years where some tenants have effectively been locked out of the private rented sector due to lack of property availability. That said, January and February are traditionally the slowest times of year in the Edinburgh rental sector and as we move into the spring we expect the rental market to heat up again, with time-to-lets reducing and rent levels rising.
It’s going to be very interesting to see how the rest of year unfolds.