Interest in Renting Flats in London Increases in 2008
From the beginning of the year 2008, there is an increase of 26 points in online queries related to flat rentals followed by an increase of prices of more than 35% in the same period.
From the beginning of the year 2008, there is an increase of 26 points in online queries related to flat rentals followed by an increase of prices of more than 35% in the same period. In London and in U.K., now days, internet is hosting hundreds of thousands of properties on offer. Each property listing is time stamped, as private land lords and estate agents uploads their ads on internet, so it is possible to track the evolution of prices online at each location in U.K.
Markets like property and real estate are traditionally monitored by collecting statistics of applications of mortgages over time or of registered transactions by combining the data available on internet. However, we found that it is possible to quantify and to understand trends by operating offline. The property market in the U.K. reveals that the current turmoil in the market gives some interesting trends affecting first time buyers, buy-to-let investors and property owners. While the property owners with an interest in renting their second and third homes benefit from a surge in demand for rentals, the former two obtain less credit to finance their purchases.
"London flat rentals" are increasingly popular from the year 2008, according to online trend for search. There is an increase in the interest for flat rentals. According to research, since the end of May, rentals rates grow proportionally for search volumes on the internet in the year 2008. By comparing the evolution of rental prices and the popularity of internet searches over time, we found that the change in prices is strongly correlated with trends in online searches.
On one hand, as a tenant, it is a good time to get into leasing. Investors are interested in keeping a regular flow of income by-to-let and that finance their multiple mortgages, and they become more efficient in marketing their portfolio of flats and houses, particularly in active areas like London. For property owners, on the other hand, it means that you are less likely to have your flats remain empty by advertising it now. Advertising online improves its efficiency proportionally. It increases in popularity for rentals and the growth in interest is clearly shown with the number of internet searches.
Increase in search volumes also gives benefit to the property search sites. We will get more rental listings and rent more places over the month to come, as activity in rental markets increases. With rise in interest, our site will show a marked increase in activity.