Weird rental market?

[Askandyforcompo]

We had to move for work 7 years ago. We were selling our house but it fell through on exchange and we had to go to the work, so we rented our house out That's the backstory for landlord haters.

We put the house on 3 weeks ago. We've had 10 enquiries, mostly people who don't meet the minimum earning requirement by quite a large margin. Only 2 have viewed, liked it but it was too small for them. We've had no enquiries for a week.

Where are all the people desperate to rent I read about constantly? It's a lovely detached character cottage in the best area of our town. It's only two bed which obviously isn't great for people with kids, but for a couple looking for something with a garden it's perfect. It's in the Surrey commuter belt. It's on for the same price as other 2 bed houses. It's well maintained.

The tenants move out in 3 weeks. Is the rental market strange at the moment?

Who will they sell to, people can"t get the mortgage debt now to pay the prices the landlords paid!

Landlords are "trying" to leave, subtle difference, but the more people buy the landlord flats the less demand for rental, and remember that immigration is falling and is the number one political topic now across Europe, there isn"t going to be an endless supply of cheap labour looking for rental in the future.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/property/buy-to-let/landlords-50-rent-rise-backfires-court-cuts-rent-by-200/

They aren't leaving en masse because nobody can afford to buy their properties!

Exactly, and older more established landlords with low or no mortgage debt can afford to undercut newer more debt burdened landlords, it is going to get tricky for many, will the banks repo BTL en masse?

I am not an expert in the rent market but you said you were planning to sell 7 years ago. So not sure why you don't take this opportunity to try again to sell.

Sorry but that makes no sense. If landlords were selling up there would be less choice, not more

And property prices drop further so renters with savings are able to buy...

Exactly - the bit that landlords forget to mention…

There are a lot of ex landlord properties coming onto the market in my area. Prices are dropping as supply is greater than demand.

But not all those properties are selling. All over the country leasehold flats are languishing on the market for months, often reduced. I think people are increasingly seeing the problematic nature of these flats and are preferring to rent.

Or maybe they are seeing prices drop like a stone and waiting for leasehold reforms to come in before committing to buy.

I think there is a trend now to skip the first time buy- often a flat in the South East. There are SO many flats to buy and rent in my town. Huge amounts were built and converted about 15 years ago and nobody wants them, mainly because they're leasehold.

I also think that the people with decent incomes can afford to stretch themselves a bit more, like my tenants who are leaving and will be paying £1k a month more to live nearer London. They are not interested in buying in the UK.

Previously it was common to get people on a joint income of £100k to want my house. This time it's been difficult.

Definitely some changes to the previous dynamic then?

It's currently a sellers market other than in London. Plenty of people can and do get mortgages

Sellers market?

https://werdnaproperties.com/interviews/20260804-18

"Plenty of people can and do get mortgages"

Really?

https://tradingeconomics.com/united-kingdom/mortgage-approvals

Lol. On what planet??

Exactly.

The London Market is different to many other areas. Don't judge everywhere else by where you live. And yes people are getting mortgages daily.

Yes, but it is a lot less people than it used to be, you can"t maintain prices at these levels with the present drop in mortgage approvals.