The latest Citylets quarterly report is now out, so here’s our Edinburgh rental market update for Q4 2019.
Rents are up but growth is slowing compared to last year
Rental values in Edinburgh continued to increase through to the end of 2019. However, the rate of growth slowed down from the record year on year (YOY) growth of the year before (7.8% growth between Q4 2017 and Q4 2018) to a more modest 3.6% YOY (between Q4 2018 and Q4 2019). This compares to 3.5% YOY growth across Scotland as a whole. Edinburgh’s average rent now stands at £1,134pcm, down a little from the average for Q3 2019 (an all time high of £1,148) which is no surprise with fewer larger (student) properties letting over the winter months (outside of the normal student rental cycles).
Properties continue to let quickly
Traditionally the rental market quietens down into the winter months, but in Q3 2019, properties in Edinburgh continued to let quickly with an average TTL (Time to Let) of 22 days (against an average of 29 days across Scotland as a whole). The 1 bedroom part of the market shifted most quickly with an average TTL of 17 days and almost 1/3rd of all 1 bedroom properties were let out within a week. Larger properties took longer to rent in Q4, with 3 beds taking an average of 33 days and 4 beds 40 days to let with most students already settled in for the academic year, even with the increased freedom that the PRT offers.
Reflecting on the past 10 years
Looking back over the past 10 years, the average rental growth in Edinburgh has been over 5% YOY, demonstrating just how consistently strong the market is in the city. Pair this with some of the recent news online and from the press on house price growth and confidence in the market, it paints a very positive picture about investing in Buy to Let properties in Edinburgh.
Life at Umega
We compare our own average rents and TTLs with the Citylets averages to check if our portfolio is reflective of the market and to measure ourselves against the wider lettings sector. For Q4 2019 our TTLs were consistently shorter than the city-wide averages (our averages are between 16 and 24 days depending on property size) while our 1 and 2 bedroom rents are above average and our rents for larger properties below the city averages.
