Investing In property in edinburgh
Financial uncertainty, the cost-of-living crisis and emergency government legislation to freeze rent increases all impacted Edinburgh’s buy-to-let market in 2022, but the final quarter of the year proved busier than ever for the city’s leading letting agent.
There was much talk of landlords turning their backs on the rental market and putting their properties up for sale last year, but Clan Gordon has experienced the opposite with an influx of landlords switching letting agents looking for a better property management service. The slowdown in residential sales has also impacted.
Edinburgh homeowners switch to letting as property sales dip
Speaking to Citylets for their last market review of the year, Managing Director Jonathan Gordon said: “It has been a very busy quarter with more new clients than ever before. The source of new clients has been mixed, but for the first time in years, we have seen clients who tried to sell their property take it off the sales market through a lack of interest.
“This was something that helped us get going as an agent back in 2008 and may be a sign of things to come, with the recession and many predicting the property sales market will fall over the next 12 months by 10%.”
Strong Demand
Residential lettings site Citylets analyses data from across Scotland and produces quarterly reports, with figures broken down by city. Towards the end of the year, landlords faced the double whammy of rising mortgage rates and the Scottish government’s Cost of Living (Tenant Protection)(Scotland) Bill, which froze rent increases until at least March 2023 and prevented most evictions.
However, demand for rentals in Edinburgh remained strong across all property types, with 50% of homes being let within a week. The average rent was £1,370 a month – a record year-on-year increase of 14.9% and 34.8% more than five years ago.
Shortage of properties to let in Edinburgh impacts demand
A shortage of rental properties in Edinburgh has continued to impact demand, and the average time to let in Q4 was just 12 days. Many properties were let before even being advertised due to lists of prospective tenants who are already registered with Edinburgh lettings agents, vetted and ready to proceed.
Almost half of Edinburgh’s rental properties are two-bedroom flats, and 92% of those available were let within a month in Q4. Three-bedroom flats took the longest to let, but 79% were still snapped up within a month.
Clan Gordon has been providing property management for landlords in Edinburgh for around 15 years, and we currently look after more than 600 homes across the city.
If you would like to find out how you can enjoy award-winning, hassle-free property management with Edinburgh’s top letting agent, visit schedule a call with our team today.