Agents are reporting a burst of enthusiasm from wannabe tenants. Gavin Sung from Anscombe & Ringland says enquiries are up by an astonishing
33 per cent across the company’s London offices compared to this time last year.
“Demand has literally skyrocketed, which might be down to increased confidence making people feel they can spend their money. But we could do with double the stock to accommodate everybody,” he points out.
Another factor, according to Sung, is the re-emergence of relocation agents searching for rental homes for corporate clients. “We are trading with a lot of City types, American bankers and government employees who are moving
around at the moment.”
Rebecca Atkins at Brian Lack & Co’s St John’s Wood office has also witnessed huge demand for bigger properties and has clinched a number of
deals on family homes in the area. “They have mainly been private tenants with big budgets and we are seeing relatively few corporate tenants or professional sharers.”
Currently, there are few instructions coming to the market, but the number of applicants has increased, argues Rodney McQuillan-Keane, from
Chesterton Humberts Camden & Regents Park office.
“This has stabilised prices and led to a few price increases where applicants are competing with each other for the best stock. The less desirable lets continue to face problems in the current economic climate, but as confidence is growing I hope to see a gradual improvement in
the market,” he explains.
His colleague Simon Green at Chesterton Humberts Hampstead office reports an exceptionally busy start to 2010 “with prospective tenants looking
to rent good quality property close to Hampstead Village. This bodes well for this first quarter and we hope this trend continues well into the year with plentiful stock available for people to rent.”