City property rents rocket

15/07/2010

Figures from lettings agency D J Alexander show that the rents for some of the Capital’s most expensive properties are rising steeply, with the average rent for a four-bedroom flat in the city up from £1,293 in the first quarter of the year to £1,536 between April and June.

The average rent for five-bedroom houses let by the company, which handles around 10 per cent of the Capital’s rents, rose from £1,715 to £2,133 over the same period.

Increases are also being seen on other homes, with the average cost for all new rentals handled by the firm going up from £791 a month to £812 between quarters. However, D J Alexander’s senior property manager, Rob Trotter, said the upturn was most noticeable for large, high-value properties.
“We let five period houses or large flats in the New Town during the last two weeks of June at rentals of between £3,500 and £3,700 a month, yet over the past seven years we would only ever expect to achieve rents at this level perhaps once or twice in any six-month period. And the demand is not just confined to the New Town; we currently have an offer of £4,250 for a flat at the Quarter Mile development which the landlord is considering.”
Although some figures are based on a relatively small sample, he said: “The only limit to this market at the moment is supply, not demand – if we had another ten £2,500 houses with gardens we would rent them.
“It’s a combination of people who can’t get a mortgage and people who don’t want a mortgage –the uncertainty in what the future holds in terms of job prospects and capital growth means people are reluctant to commit to a mortgage.”

Front page lead story, HERALD & POST, 15 July 2010