The number of agents who saw rent increases fell by 8% in October against a tumultuous political backdrop.

That is according to ARLA Propertymark, which recently issued its October Private Rented Sector (PRS) report.

Rent prices

The number of tenants who experienced rent rises fell by 8% in October, with 50% of agents seeing an increase in rent rises – down from 58% in September.

This is the lowest figure since June 2019, when the number of tenants experiencing rent rises was 55%.

Year-on-year, however, this figure is up from 24% in October 2018, and 22% in October 2017.

Rent negotiations

The number of tenants successfully negotiating rent reductions rose 1.6% from 1.2% in September.

Despite this increase, the year-on-year figure is down from 3.7% in October 2018 and 2.5% in October 2017.

Rental stock and tenant demand

The number of properties managed per branch rose by 8% to 201 in October, up from 193 the previous month. Year-on-year supply is also up from 198 in October last year and 182 in October 2017.

Meanwhile, demand from prospective tenants remained the same, with 72 registered prospective tenants per member branch.

David Cox, chief executive at ARLA Propertymark, says while the number of landlords increasing rents has fallen, year-on-year the figure remains worryingly high.

“Even looking at the increase in the number of tenants negotiating rent reductions, which should be a positive thing, when comparing year-on-year it is less than half of what it stood at in 2018.”

He adds: “For far too long, successive governments of all political persuasions have passed significant amounts of complex legislation for landlords making the buy-to-let market a less attractive investment, and this coupled with Brexit uncertainty and a looming general election has left the sector strained.”

“Unfortunately, rents are likely to remain high and tenants will continue to feel the pinch.”