Aberdeen rental market bounces back with strong price growth

Big demand for four-bed homes to lease in the Aberdeen area has seen their average rents shoot up by 12.4% to £1,399 a month in the last year. 

There has also been a large drop in the typical time taken to let this of property - down to just 30 days, a year-on-year fall of 24 days. 

The local leasing market is now beginning to turn around after being hit by the recent downturn in the North Sea oil industry, which led to many job losses. 

Adrian Sangster, leasing director of Aberdein Considine, said: "Finding a family-sized home for rent in the north-east remains a challenge for many.  

"Due to low stock and ever-increasing demand, people are prepared to offer rentals higher than the asking price to secure properties.  

"I have not witnessed this sort of demand since the height of the oil boom." 

Prosperity

The oil industry continues to be a major driver of the economy in the Aberdeen area, but renewables are a great hope for future decades. 

Just last month, BP pledged to make the Granite City the centre of its global offshore wind business as part of a £10billion bid to win a lease to install and manage turbines in the North Sea. 

The company's plans could create thousands of direct and indirect jobs in Scotland, including in Aberdeen. 

Mr Sangster said that this move by BP is encouraging news for landlords, but more properties will be required to meet the inevitable demand from workers. 

The Aberdein Considine leasing director made his comments in the latest report from Citylets on the Scottish home-rental market. 

National trends

It says the Scottish lettings market sprung to life in the latter stages of Q2 as Covid-19 restrictions eased and students, who had delayed securing accommodation for the next academic year, increasingly found confidence to take up their leases.  

Properties of all types posted positive annual growth - taking the overall Scottish average to an all-time high of £883 per month.  

A common trend of larger rental properties continuing to be in high demand was evident. 

People have increasingly sought more living space to accommodate home working.  

Rental markets within commuting distance of main cities continued to post much of the strongest growth - including West Lothian (13.2%), South Lanarkshire (8.5%) and Renfrewshire (8.6%). 

Citylets points out it is noteworthy that rents in the main cities also, on the whole, enjoyed positive annual growth - indicating strong demand persists relative to supply, especially in Glasgow.  

Capital gains

Edinburgh, which witnessed its steepest year-on-year decline last quarter at 6.9%, continued to see some challenges with a large supply of smaller one and two-bed properties.  

However, larger three and four-bed properties recorded positive growth at 3% and 1.8%, in strong contrast to the previous quarter (-6.1% and -17%) - but in line with forecast that these markets would recover quickly on easing of restrictions.  

Overall the average property to rent in Edinburgh fell just -0.6% year-on-year to stand at £1,115 per month.  

Citylets adds: "Few would have predicted such a quick rebound in the capital's rental market, with many agents now predicting a return to pre-pandemic levels this year." 

The Glasgow rental market continues to operate at pace with very high demand relative to supply pushing average rents 8.9% higher year-on-year to £882. 

Citylets says this growth rate will be a concern to policy makers and the local authority.  

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