Average rents in Edinburgh have shot up to £1,095 a month

The average cost of renting a home in Edinburgh hit £1,095 a month in the last quarter of 2018.

This represents a year-on-year rise of 7.8%, according to latest figures from residential lettings site Citylets.

Glasgow also recorded an increase – up 3.9% to £771 – while the gap between it and Aberdeen widened due to the typical rent in the Granite City dipping by 5.3% to £715.

The average rent for Scotland was £771 – up 5%.

Larger three and four-bed properties again recorded the largest annual rises north of the border, ahead 7% to £923 and 10.9% to £1,332 respectively.

Citylets said this reinforced the view that an increasing number of families are calling the private rented sector home. Recent estimates put the number of families living in the sector at around 90,000.

Strong demand 

The cost of renting in Edinburgh has reached a level not seen since 2015-16. Citylets said this was led by strong demand for all property types.

Four-bed properties in the capital at £1,868 a month saw the largest rise from both the one and 10-year view (10.3% and 48.6% respectively) and also a significant reduction in time to let (TTL) – down 12 days to 39 on average. Nearly 80% of one-bed properties were let within a month and the TTL for the Edinburgh rental market as a whole averaged just 23 days, unchanged on last year.

Citylets said landlords in Aberdeen may well be wondering when their market will fully level off. However, it added that the market moved consistently in the -3% to -6% range throughout the year representing stability in the rate of negative growth.

Four-bed homes in Glasgow recorded the biggest year-on-year increase of all property types in the city – up 18.9% to £1,532 a month.

Time of transition

Looking at the Scottish private rented sector in general, Adrian Sangster, national leasing director at Aberdein Considine, told Citylets that last year was very much a time of transition.

He added: “Agents, landlords and tenants were continuing to adapt to changes brought about by the new PRT (private residential tenancy), which went live at the end of 2017.

“Agents also had to prepare for the introduction of the letting agent register during Q4. Any agent who has not applied and continues to trade does so illegally. Therefore, landlords and tenants need to carry out due diligence to ensure the agent they’re using is fully compliant.

“All this took place at a time when more landlords left the sector in part due to the phased tax changes announced in the 2015 UK Budget.”

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