I'm looking around Herts - noticed places I'd been planning to pounce on after a while (say 2 weeks or so) are all letting, and the prices have gone up around 5% or so since December. OK not all, but the new ones coming on.

Let's look at what's happened:

HPI priced buyers out - guess what, it was over 1m BTLers caused that HPI
Now BTLers turn the screw on renters, although tenants (who perhaps would have liked to have been buyers) will say they get better value renting
Some BTLers have to turn the screw on tenants as they can't otherwise afford their BTL mortgage
Some BTLers get repo'd - this makes less places for people to rent
Those BTLers who do continue put rents up due to increasing tenant demand and to make repayments/profit

Now I hear there's some tax incentive to make landlords sell a BTL property every year? Is that so?

Plus we've not got some people STRing and they want to rent somewhere.

I see this putting pressure on rents - seems a shortage of fair places to rent where I am.

What a horrible cycle. Which bunch of idiots got us all into this mess?

Cycle might be broken, not after some hardship though on all sides. A lot of hardship really.

Personally am just about to sign contracts on my sale.I am now looking around seriously to find a place to rent....You know what....rents are going up.Im not sure I want to rent anymore.I love my (almost bought)house, my mortgage is small,so I may just stay put.Selling and renting for a couple of years is losing its appeal by the day.Yes I would have a nice lump sum to invest but cash isnt everything for me.
I have had a major shift of mind.I phoned an agent today and booked a viewing for tomorrow on a nice detached rental property.Two hours later I got a call telling me the owner has pulled it off the market.He told me something about the owner not moving now.Yet earlier I was told by his colleague that it was an investment property.?...make what you will of that.
My guess is the owner is spooked and wants to sell instead.
If a big slice of the rental properties are owned by people like this its not a stable place to be as a tenant.!

I concur.

The missus and I had a great house last year (Oct 2006 to Oct 2007) for £1200pcm. It was "worth" over £400k and was a lovely place to live.

We gave it up to go travelling in South America for a while and have come back to find we're needing to pay £1500pcm for anything remotely similar.
The market was dead in December but is picking up massively now. We looked at 7 properties yesterday and several agents said "it's gone mad" with viewings.

Lots of folks talk about paying £800/month for £350k houses ... but I just can't understand where they find them. Everything we find on Rightmove or Primelocation for the area we're looking (Hampshire/Surrey - M3 corridor from Winchester through Basingstoke to Camberley and below) seems expensive.

This is my experience also. There's pretty much nothing decent for under £800pm in the Maidstone area. The same agency that had 20 or so properties listed in the area 2 months ago now has 6!!!. I've chased 6-7 properties advertised as being available on the net, only to find when I've enquired that they have already been let. In fact, this is getting so desperate I might have to buy instead!!.

Dave

Friend of mine who works for local paper says ads that go in on the 48 hour delay are usually rented out before the ad even makes the paper since the estate agent is already advertising in their own window and giving to people who are contacting them direct. Rent prices for small properties (1 bed flats and bedsits) are still increasing over 10% per year here. Larger properties around 3-5%.

Glad I'm not seeing it where I live, most I've heard was a friend who had a 2% rise, ours (year 3) is still the same

I'm noting definite rises. In some cases though they're not being tenanted but the LLs are still upping the rent. Take this ad from Rightmove, the Rental is given as £650 in the ad but the original text said £625 and they've forgotten to change it after the LL said "Rent up!"


2 bedroom flat

£650 pcm
This is a pleasant flat, occupying the whole of the first floor of a large semi-detached house, which is comfortably furnished and has a good range of equipment. It is situated a short walk away from Park recreation area and High Street. Fixed Term 6 month let available at £625.

I see similar flats to the ones I was considering in December at £595 are now £630.

Well, whether they will get away with these rises I don't know, but seems likely they will to be honest.

For STRs like me that's very bad news. My savings interest is down, but my rent is up.

Some people on this forum said this would not happen, well I'm afraid it is happening at least in some cases. However, that conflicts with a letting agent who told me very recently things are slow in lettings, but even if by some chance they are it seems that places are letting fairly quickly and prices are up 5% in 2 months or so and possibly up 10% in the last 4 to 6 months in some areas. What the eventual negotiated rent was is another story, of course.

I know some of you firmly believe I'm getting this wrong, but round here and areas of Gtr London, I'm seeing definite hikes of 8 to 10% since middle of last year.

Some examples - St Albans ... very little 2-bed sub £750. There were loads more a couple of months ago.
Kenton near Harrow in Middx, there were a couple of 2-bed maisonettes at £750 and 725, now very little even at 800 pm.
Southend in Essex - just look at how silly some of those rents are for!

I could go on, round where I am one or two are sticking but the trend is up by 5% at least. This is despite my hearing things are 'slow' from a soutce. Well, perhaps rents will come down here then, but no sign as yet.

I fear rents are marching up, or at least the ask on them is.

I think probably the latter!

You must live fairly near to me TLB, I live in Hemel Hempstead, West Herts. No doubt at all that market rents round here are falling like a stone. But there are also still plenty of 'kite flyers' with overpriced rentals, on for months with multiple agents.

No, not near Hemel. I hope they fall near here (London/Herts border) or even St A as I would be happy with either. So far I just see rises in the ask, and letting agents that don't even ask for my name or number, obviously overloaded with enquirers. I ain't kidding you. (I wish I was.)

Rentings definitely going crazy where I've been looking, although having said that we've just bagged what we consider to be a bargain. In the village we were looking at (and have now found somewhere to rent) there have been loads of properties available to buy for the last year but just not selling. The rental properties are going like hotcakes though, in the end we just got ourselves known by the local agents, gave them a price range and what we wanted and told them to call us as soon as anything suitable came up. The one we've ended up getting wasn't even supposed to be going on their books for another month.

This is going to take a long time so sit back and watch it unfold. Just like watching a good film. Slaughter springs to mind.

There is ever increasing demand for very small properties, especially those in band A for the council tax.

In Colchester, Essex where I live, property prices have been largely static for a couple of years, but 1 bed flats and studios have continued to rise strongly.

Rents are going up more slowly, but small properties let much faster than large properties. I've ended up renting a much larger flat than I need, simply because it's too difficult to find a small place.

I'm in the Herts and London borders - Watford.

Prior to Christmas I was looking and there was nothing habitable for £600pcm and only a few that were uninhabitable.

In January rents had gone up by £100 pcm which was depressing.

I've been looking in the local free paper for the last couple of weeks and there are far more studios/one beds on the market now and prices are down in response.

I'm not being rung up by agents I registered with but flats don't seem to be going immediately anymore either.

http://www.housepricecrash.co.uk/forum/ind...st&p=982891

Anecdotally, agents are telling me rents have risen 5% in past 12 months.

They would, wouldn't they!

Well I guess so but this is the context...

Me: I know I won't get much for that money, but rents have risen a lot haven't they, how much have they risen in the past 12 months?

LA: Not much at all, really, 5% ?...

Me: Hmm, well that is a fair bit.

LA: Well, 5% no more I'd say.

There is insatiable demand for small studio/1 bed rental properties in the South East and this is unlikely to change anytime soon.

I'd love to rent somewhere smaller, but 1 bed places rarely even make it to the shop windows of letting agencies, let alone rightmove or the dead tree publications.

Demand for 1 bed sale properties is strong as well - long after the rest of the market stagnated around here (North Essex), 1 bed flats continued to rise strongly.

A small street that I wanted to rent in, last week a 2 bed was on at ask £750pcm, now a similar one next door £850pcm.

There's some shortage of rental properties in some places, even where you'd not think of as hotspots, this is driving up rents.

I posted about this some months ago, I'm now very sorry to report that I think rents are rising week by week.

I would love to be wrong, as it is I'm stuffed.

It makes perfect sense that rents will rise. There is nowhere for FTB'ers to go now even if they wished to buy as nobody would lend them the money.

The rental market is going to expand, and I guess we are heading for a European style housing system in the UK henceforth.

5% would be roughly in line with inflation, and not so shocking. My experience is more like 20%.

Strangely enough all those people STRing push rents up.

Where is the surprise?

And Landlords are beginning to find BTL more economic as prices 'soften'.

Weirdly, in WC1, rents are going down, not up.

3 examples in the last week - changes from £1,500 to £1,300, from £700 to £625, and from £650 to £625. All rent per week.

Don't confuse a reduction in an over-optimistic asking price with a reduction in rent.

I don't think I am - similar places weren't reducing their rents a few months ago, and comparing it to this time last year, they've not risen.