Time taken to let a property falls to an all time low

The rush to move house brought on by the pandemic has also been felt in the rental market. The average time to let a property has fallen to the lowest since records were kept.

According to the latest research by Hamptons, part of Countrywide, the time taken to let a property last month was 8.9 days, the lowest since their records began in 2013.

The race for space has been the biggest driver of property sales for almost a year. Now it is being felt in the rental market. Homes outside the big cities now take an average of just 8 days to let, down from 31 days two years ago. City properties are taking slightly longer at 11 days, still the lowest ever.

There are 45% fewer rental properties available than in 2019, with half of the UK's regions showing falls of at least 50%. More than half of rental properties coming onto the market were let within a week.

This supply and demand imbalance has also driven up prices. Across the UK, rentals have increased by 5.9% over the last year. Outside of London, they hit double digits.

The stamp duty holiday has increased investor purchases, but these have yet to feed through into increased supply. Rapid time to let and rising rents seem set to continue for some time.