Tracker launched to monitor rents in Scotland's biggest cities

24/04/2010

The DJ Alexander rental monitor will be published quarterly and follow changes in the average cost of private rented housing in the two cities. It will cover flats with between one and five bedrooms, houses with two to five bedrooms plus hybrids such as amews apartments.

David Alexander, owner of the letting agent, said the monitor was an attempt to provide the rental sector with information similar to the house price surveys common in the owner-occupier market.

“With more flats and houses being made available for private rent, and lease terms on existing rental properties getting longer, we felt the time was right to launch this initiative which we hope will become the benchmark for the rental sector in Scotland,” said Alexander.

He claimed the monitor would be particularly useful for the inexperienced landlords that represent a growing proportion of the market.

This follows the emergence in the downturn of reluctant landlords letting out homes they were unable to sell when they moved.

“Our monitor should help home owners come to a decision on what they can reasonably charge if they rent out rather than sell and it will also provide valuable information to present and future tenants in terms of what they might reasonably pay for rented accommodation.”

The first monitor showed that one-bedroom flats average £559 in Edinburgh and £509 in Glasgow, while the average two-bedroom flat rents out at £735 in the capital and £783 in Glasgow.

Apartments with three bedrooms or more average £1,500 a month in Edinburgh and £1,104 in Glasgow, according to the monitor.

THE SCOTSMAN, 24 April 2010