Fleet Mortgages' Q1 2021 Rental Barometer shows strong quarterly growth

27 April 2021

Fleet Mortgages, the buy-to-let specialist lender, has today (27th April 2021) launched the fifth iteration of its Buy-to-Let Rental Barometer covering Q1 2021 rental yields across England and Wales.

The regional snapshot covers all the areas in which Fleet lends in England and highlights the rental yield changes that have occurred in each region.

In this iteration, the yearly comparison is between Q1 2021 and Q1 2020. For the first time in a year, the Barometer also includes figures for Wales as Fleet now has meaningful data to provide a robust rental yield figure.

Overall, the Barometer shows rental yields on residential buy-to-let properties of 6.3% across England, exactly the same figure achieved in the first quarter of 2020. This is 0.6% up on the rental yield figure for the last three-month period covering Q4 2020.

And while every single region covered in the Barometer does show a drop on the year-on-year figures, Fleet has pointed out that Q1 2020 was the last three-month period pre-pandemic, and that the quarterly comparisons between this quarter and the last of 2020 are much more positive.

Between Q4 2020 and Q1 2021 only one region, East Midlands, showed a quarterly drop in rental yield from 6.9% to 6.7%, and Greater London recorded the same quarterly figure of 5%.

All other English regions showed an increase in yield, with Yorkshire & Humberside up 2.5%, the North East and North West up 1.2%, the South West up 0.5%, East Anglia up 0.3%, and the West Midlands up 0.1%. There was no data collected for Wales in Q4 2020.

The North East of England posted the top rental yield regional figure for the third quarter running, this time hitting 9.1%, with Yorkshire & Humberside in second spot at 8.2%, and the North West with 7.8%.

Fleet said the overall data showed an increasingly strong picture with quarterly rental yield increases in most regions outstripping the last three-month period, and quarterly drops where present being small.

The lender said there was an increasing demand from tenants in many regions of England and Wales, which was not being met by supply, and was resulting in an increase in rents and therefore yields. Fleet said this was likely to continue as the country moved out of lockdown with tenants increasingly seeking to move to new properties, often in areas outside where they currently live.

Steve Cox, Chief Commercial Officer at Fleet Mortgages, commented:

“In many ways, the yearly comparison we make within the Rental Barometer is something of a red herring, because – in this iteration – we are comparing the first quarter of 2021 with last year, which (for the most part) was pre-pandemic.

“With that being the case, it’s not surprising that we see a yearly drop in every region, particularly in Wales, since this is an outlier as this is the first time in a year we’ve been able to present meaningful data. We fully anticipate that, in future iterations, yields in Wales will improve.

“However, the far more pertinent comparison is a quarterly one, and shows the improving strength of the private rental sector for landlords, the impact an increase in demand is having in many regions, with the anticipation that this will continue through the rest of the year.

“Quarterly rental yields fell in only one region – East Midlands – and then by only 0.2%; London stayed static while rental yields increased in all other English regions showing that we have a strengthening private rental sector, one in which landlords are achieving the better yields they seek, and where there is strong tenant demand to access.

“That should be very good news for adviser’s landlord clients with all indications that many are looking to add to portfolios throughout this year, potentially taking advantage of the remaining stamp duty holiday timescale in order to do so.

“We would urge advisers to therefore speak to Fleet to see how we can support their landlord clients in refinancing and/or purchasing to help them achieve their portfolio and yield goals.”

Fleet Mortgages’ product guide and full list of lending criteria is available to view by visiting its new website at: www.fleetmortgages.co.uk