Gordon Hood (Ascot), Amanda Driver (Cobham) and Elizabeth Hunt (Esher), discuss the Home Counties lettings market - who's looking, why they want to live here and what you can do to ensure that your property is let as quickly as possible, at the right rent.
Greater Vancouver Realtors Statistics Package April 2024
UK Home Counties Property Market Update
1. Winter 2011
home counties lettings INSIGHT
Knight Frank
Gordon Hood (Ascot), Amanda Driver (Cobham) and Elizabeth Hunt
(Esher), discuss the Home Counties lettings market - who's looking, why
they want to live here and what you can do to ensure that your property
is let as quickly as possible, at the right rent.
"The real benefit
to this area is
the speed and
ease of the
commute into
London"
Where do your tenants tend to come from?
Dealing with the complete spectrum of the lettings market from modern apartments to large country houses, the
type of tenants that we have dealings with are equally as broad. The areas we cover in Berkshire and Surrey are
well placed to accommodate high end corporate tenants to single professional individuals or couples looking to
rent out of central London. The real benefit to this area is the speed and ease of the commute into London and
the frequency of the trains. In addition there is an abundance of good schools in the county that appeal to those
tenants with children.
What advice would you give to a landlord thinking about bringing their property to the market?
Any Landlord thinking about coming to the lettings market should consult one of our Knight Frank lettings team,
who can confidently advise them as to the marketing campaign that would be suitable for their property. A
number of our clients - for a variety of reasons - choose to have a low-key, private campaign. However, most of
our enquiries are from those searching online initially, so a full marketing campaign is imperative to ensure
maximum exposure. Although the market remains active, price remains key. Potential tenants, and more
importantly those agents searching on their behalf, are seeing a large assortment of property and doing their
own research, so if a property is marketed at an optimistic price it will not receive the interest. As always, ensure
that the property is well presented, that any defects are put right before viewing and that the property is
presented in a clean order.
How do you think the market will fare in the coming months?
Although activity levels have reduced from the height of the summer, there continues to be strong demand for a
variety of property, with an increased need for well presented apartments and houses with two or three
bedrooms. A significant number of applicants that have registered within the last month have budgets under
£3,000 per month, so properties within this price range are urgently required and should see good interest.
However, there is also a good number of applicants viewing at the top end of the market with 22% of the last
month’s viewings being of properties over £7,500 per month. We believe that this active market looks set to
continue over the winter months and into the spring.
Home Counties lettings market at a glance
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Last 3 months, year-on-year change
New applicants, last 12 months
New instructions, last 12 months
Market activity
Tenancies agreed
16%
Prospective tenants
registered
42%
11%
51%
15%
Viewings
What is coming to the market?
74%
New property
available
What do our applicants want to spend?
-6%
Change in rents,
last 3 months
3.6%
7%
16%
30%
20%
22%
Under £2,500
£2,500 to £3,500
Under £2,500
£2,500 to £3,500
£3,500 to £4,500
over £4,500
£3,500 to £4,500
over £4,500
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