Rents on increase for 2012 (From York Press)

Rents on increase for 2012

8:11am Wednesday 4th January 2012

RENTS could rise in 2012, a North Yorkshire letting agency has warned.

Bill Smith, of Belvoir in Harrogate, said: “While there will be considerable regional variations, my view is that increased rents and stable or decreasing house prices will result in increased rental yields in 2012.

“Renting is proving to be consistent and increasingly seen as the real alternative to home ownership,” he said.

Fewer people are able to buy their own homes and people are accepting the continental lifestyle of renting, he said.

Experts also predict more housing stock will be turned over to the private residential property lettings sector, which is still experiencing solid rental yields, propped up by modestly increased levels of buy-to-let funding made available to professional landlords.

Homeowners who are struggling to sell are often letting out their existing home to provide extra income and moving to another lower-cost rental property and there is growing evidence that in many areas of the UK larger builders have started to develop once-dormant land sites, with a view to letting the properties, rather than attempting to sell them.