Whilst rising rents continue to generate some easy headlines, arguably one of the most overlooked areas of the buy-to-let marketplace, at least from a national media perspective and certainly one of the least eye-catching for headline writers, is rental voids.
We can all appreciate that the viability of a buy-to-let property relies heavily on a multitude of components, including the aforementioned ones, but in order for such an investment to be profitable over the short, medium and longer term, it’s imperative that void periods are kept to an absolute minimum.
As such, it’s a huge positive for landlords to see two separate sets of statistics highlight a significant reduction in void periods. According to the latest data released by Total Landlord Insurance, the average void period across England is only 16.8 days a year. With an average monthly rent of £940, equating to £31 per day, this means that void periods are currently costing landlords £518 per year.
On a regional level, the longest average void period is reported to be in the West Midlands where, so far in 2022, properties are said to be empty for an average of 19.8 days of the year at a cost of £528. In the East Midlands, the average void period is 18.3 at a cost of £457, followed by the North West where 17.4 void days come at a cost of £501 for landlords. Despite these significant void periods, the national overall void period for 2022 is actually 2.6 days less than it was in 2021, bringing the cost to landlords down by -7.4%.
Data from Goodlord suggested a marginally lower level of rental voids as demand for rental homes remained strong across the country. This outlined that rental voids were at 15 days in September. Despite this seeing a slight rise from the reported 14 days in August 2022, in comparison, September 2021 saw average rental voids hitting 17 days. London was reported to have experienced the biggest drop in voids – down from 11 days to just 9. Whereas, the South West saw a slower pace, with properties taking 17 days to change hands, up from 14 in the previous month.
The combination of this data is significant as it offers valuable insight into how robust the UK rental market is, especially following the impact of a pandemic which heaped additional financial pressure on a range of landlords and tenants. It also highlights the continued strength of performance and demand for BTL properties and this demand is only likely to rise in an economic climate which is making it tougher and more expensive for first-time buyers to take that first step onto the property ladder. Meaning more opportunities are likely to emerge for landlords to bolster their portfolios.
