Scores of landlords leaving the sector are exacerbating a significant lack of rental properties, according to new research by data firm TwentyEA.
Its latest Property & Homemover Report reveals that many tenants are still struggling to find a home and adds that with net migration of 431,000 people in 2024, demand will continue to exceed availability.
Year-to-date, lets agreed are 6% higher than 2024 and are at their highest level in seven years, while the available stock is 19% lower compared to 2019, says TwentyEA.
It adds that growth in the availability of rental properties has fallen at the extremes of the price spectrum, with a -9% drop in £0-£800pcm properties and a -4% drop in £3,000+pcm properties, while there has been moderate growth in availability in the £800-£1,500pcm price bracket (+6%).
Outer London saw lets agreed rise by 17% in the second quarter of the year compared to Q2 2024, while the North East experienced growth of 17% and the North West increased by 13%.
Prime rental values in the capital continued to grow in Q2 2025, albeit at a slower pace, according to the latest Savills’ prime index. Average prime rents grew by a further +1% in outer prime London (up +2.5% on the year), while across the prime regions outside the capital, rents grew by +0.6% as demand softened.
“Ahead of the Renters’ Rights Bill becoming law, we anticipate that some landlords, predominately in the mainstream market, will increase asking rents as they seek to create sufficient headroom to maintain healthy competition among tenants,” says Jessica Tomlinson, research analyst at Savills, “while others will shift their focus to ensuring that they have a good quality tenant in place.”
Half of Savills’ agents across the prime regional markets agreed that landlords on their books expected to achieve higher prices over the past three months, compared to just 5% who agreed that tenants expected to pay more.
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