Over a quarter (27%) of landlords experienced an increase in tenant demand during the final quarter of 2019.
Nearly four out of ten landlords believe that tenant demand for residential property will increase over the next 12 months according to research by Paragon.
Paragon's Trends research found that 37% of landlords expect tenant demand to grow during 2020, compared to 7.3% predicting a fall.
Over a quarter (27%) of landlords experienced an increase in tenant demand during the final quarter of 2019.
Richard Rowntree, managing director of mortgages at Paragon, said: “Although home ownership is increasing on the back of government policies, there is clearly still growing demand for rented property for a variety of reasons.
“We expect to see tenant demand to continue to increase in the coming years and it’s important the private rented sector is adequately financed to ensure tenants have a good choice of property and rental inflation is kept under control.”
These figures come following the government’s recent English Housing Survey which found that the number of households in the private rented sector has remained unchanged at 4.6 million, the equivalent of 19% of all housing tenures.
However, the length of time households are staying in private rented property is increasing, from an average of 4.1 years to 4.4 years.
The report also found that over the past decade, the proportion of 55-64 year olds in private rented accommodation increased from 7% to 10%.
