Like every month, Rentila offers you an overview of the main real estate news of interest to landlords and tenants. This month, we focus on: The top areas for buy-to-let rental yields; UK housing market cools; Mortgage Trends in the UK: What Buyers Should Expect in 2025; What the government’s EPC consultation means for landlords; Cleaning accounts for 65% of deposit disputes… Happy reading and… renting!
Where will house prices rise the most in the UK in 2025?
The property portal has assessed a range of key housing indicators including the affordability of homes, how quickly property is selling, how much asking prices are being cut to attract demand and how many homes have been on the market for more than six months.
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The top areas for buy-to-let rental yields
It is a challenging time to be a buy-to-let landlord.
Many of the benefits of investing in property have been hit by slowing rental growth, tax relief restrictions and lower capital gains tax allowances, as well as increased regulations such as the Renters’ Rights Bill.
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House price affordability improves, but average first-time buyer still paying five times salary
Wages outstripped house price growth last year resulting in a “modest improvement” in affordability for buyers, according to mortgage lender Nationwide.
Despite this, the average first-time buyer in the UK is still paying five times their annual salary when purchasing a property.
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The UK’s housing crisis is creating a generation of broke retirees
The affordability crisis in the UK housing market is creating a generation who will still face monthly mortgage or rent payments well into retirement, according to a new study.
With deposits increasingly hard to save up for and mortgages increasingly burdensome, few people will be free of housing costs by 2050, unless something changes.
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Senior rental market set to boom
The UK’s senior living rental sector is poised for a dramatic expansion, with private rental stock predicted to rocket by 150% over the next five years.
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House price growth eases to 4.1%
Average homes are 0.1% more expensive than they were in December month-on-month, or 4.7% higher from a year ago, according to a lender’s latest house price index.
House prices have been rising since September.
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Top 20 UK areas where house prices have ballooned in last 25 years
House prices have ballooned by 257% in the past 25 years, according to new analysis by real estate services firm Savills.
The average price for a home in the UK at the turn of the millennium was just £88,466, compared with £329,988 today. When adjusted for inflation, that is an increase of 92%.
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UK housing market cools
The RICS UK residential property survey for January 2025 signalled a broadly flat picture for house demand and sales. Despite this, survey respondents foresee the market picking up later in the year.
The new buyer enquiries indicator returned a net balance of zero, which means that interest in home buying neither increased nor decreased.
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Buy to let mortgage possessions rocket by 73%
The latest quarterly update from UK Finance reveals there were 710 buy to let mortgage possessions in the third quarter of last year.
It says the figure remains unchanged from the previous quarter but marks a huge 73.2% increase compared to the same quarter in 2023.
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Week of ‘mixed attitudes’ for mortgage rates
Average rates on two-year fixes fell just 0.01% to 5.51%; three-year and five-year fixes were both unchanged at 5.34% and 5.30% respectively; while 10-year fixes were up 0.02% to 5.70%.
Despite this, certain lenders did increase rates on select products more significantly this week…
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UK mortgage approvals rise as buyers race to beat stamp duty changes
The number of mortgages approved by the UK banking sector rose unexpectedly in December, according to new data, suggesting buyers are looking to beat upcoming changes to stamp duty.
The Bank of England’s figures showed that 66,500 mortgages were approved last month, which was up from 66,100 approvals in November.
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Mortgage Trends in the UK: What Buyers Should Expect in 2025
The UK mortgage landscape continues to evolve, presenting both challenges and opportunities for prospective homebuyers. With the housing market showing varied regional performance, estate agents in Yorkshire report sustained interest from first-time buyers and those looking to remortgage, despite the complex economic environment.
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Repossessions rise but mortgage arrears fall
1,030 homeowner-mortgaged properties were repossessed, a 12% increase on the previous quarter and a 54% increase year-on-year. Buy-to-let repossessions remained static quarter on quarter, at 700, however increased 30% compared with the same period a year earlier.
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Sub 4% mortgages are returning to the market
Borrowers wanting to access the sub 4% rates, which are available for a new property purchase or remortgage, will need a 40% deposit.
Santander is also making reductions of up to 0.4% on more than 80 other mortgages products from tomorrow.
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The most expensive place to rent in the UK
In 2024, the average tenant in the UK paid nearly £10,000 in rent, with tenants in London facing costs upwards of £15,000. One in 10 renters (11%) spent more than two-thirds of their take-home pay on housing.
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Average rent surges to £2,695 in London and £1,341 across UK
The cost of rent in London has climbed for a 13th consecutive quarter to hit a record high of £2,695 per month, while tenants across the rest of the UK are paying on average £1,341.
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Rental reforms are ‘counter productive’ and will drive out landlords, politicians warned
Rental reforms being introduced by the government are “counter-productive” and will drive decent landlords from the market while pushing up costs faced by tenants, it was warned at Westminster.
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Tenants rent for longer as new tenancies plummet
The number of new rental agreements in England and Wales have reached their lowest point in eight years, according to a report by The Deposit Protection Service (The DPS).
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Private rents rise 8.7% in 12 months to Jan
The latest figure is down from 9.0% in the 12 months to December 2024.
Average rents increased by 8.8% to £1,375 in England, by 8.4% to £780 in Wales and by 6.2% to £995 in Scotland, in the 12 months to January 2025.
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Landlords put off work to achieve ‘C’ rating, Landbay research reveals
Over half of landlords with properties rated below Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) C rating are putting off work to bring their properties up to scratch, a new survey has found.
A small number of landlords with properties rated below C are not planning to make any changes at all, even though they will continue to rent.
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Half of agents remain concerned about the Renters’ Rights Bill
Despite months of targeted campaigning by the government, 50% of agents remain concerned about the forthcoming Renters’ Rights Bill
The Bill has already gone through two amendment stages in the House of Commons and the Third Reading on 14 January 2025, and will now be scrutinised by the House of Lords on 4 February.
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The winners are hostile tenants with less to lose
Advance rent agreements offer security to landlords who entrust tenants with properties worth hundreds of thousands of pounds. They prevent tenants without a guarantor from paying one month’s rent and living rent-free for as long as it takes to evict them under Section 8 (currently estimated at 9 –12 months).
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Cash buyers: UK cities with biggest shifts in outright property purchases in last 10 years
Recent research has revealed the UK regions that have experienced the biggest shift in the percentage of properties bought outright and in cash between 2013 and 2023.
The study, conducted by UK mortgage broker SPF.co.uk, analysed data from the HM Land Registry to compare the percentage of properties sold in cash in each local authority across the ten year period.
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What the government’s EPC consultation means for landlords
For all tenancies, the deadline is 2030.
However, the government says that it could cost up to £8,000 to upgrade – meaning England’s landlords face a £19.8 billion bill to meet these new standards.
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Cleaning accounts for 65% of deposit disputes
Protected deposits in England and Wales have surged to £5.2 billion, a 6% rise, while Scotland’s total reached £203.6 million, a 7% increase.
Despite a 1.3% dip in the number of protected deposits in England and Wales – now standing at 4,624,079 – the average deposit hit a record £1,125.
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Women take 4 times longer to save for a deposit than men
Women save for nearly four times longer than men to afford a deposit for their first home.
The analysis of figures published by the Office for National Statistics, found, due to a disparity in earnings, savings, and the size of deposits, women have to save for an estimated 11 years and 9 months to afford a deposit.
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Where are the tax incentives for BTL landlords?
More needs to be done to encourage investors to invest in the private rented sector, according to the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA), as new data highlights an ongoing shortage of homes to rent.
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