My team is running a couple of people short at the moment with the result that I've spent the last week out doing viewings with potential tenants for the first time in several years.
It's been quite an eye-opener, and very interesting to see how the market has moved on in ten years since I regularly did this sort of thing - no doubt whatsoever that your average Northamptonian is increasingly struggling to afford the higher rents that have come about due to the Government restricting supply of rental property.
Particularly noticeable is the demand for smaller 1 bedroom flats. I suspect this is price driven - these things tend to rent currently for between £525 to £600 in Northampton, whereas 2 beds are £625 to £800 depending on specification. However if I'd have 20x 1 beds in the last week I reckon I could have let the lot - every decent prospective tenant I met wanted a nice 1 bed, and were trying to drive the price down on 2 beds as 1 beds weren't available.
To emphasise the point further, at the end of the week we advertised a very nicely presented 1 bed in Kingsthorpe - within 24 hours we had 7 people booked to see it and a further 7 enquiries sat unopened.
And it's the same if you look at our letting patterns over the last 6 months or so - nice, self contained 1 bed accommodation has let instantly, either before advertising or immediately upon advertising. There isn't an issue letting 2 beds - these take 6 days on average which is still really quick, but 1 beds go like lightning. Even studios, as long as they are self-contained, let quickly. We rent out two identical buildings which used to be offices and have been converted to living accommodation. One was converted to rooms with shared facilities and the other to small, self contained studio apartments. The latter is never empty - the former is usually half-full.
I guess this post will actually be most use to developers and those converting larger properties into flats - there's no doubt in the current market if you're after instant lettability, you should be cramming in as many 1 beds as possible with a smart, clean specification that can then be let for sensible money. Larger properties will let too, but peak demand is for something nice and something private, on a budget.
