In October, Zoopla launched its first Rental market Report, reviewing the UK Private Rented Sector. The report showed that the average rent in Edinburgh is now £945pcm, up 2.9% from £918 a year ago. This new high equates to 38.6% of the average wage of someone living in Edinburgh. Zoopla also reports that it takes on average 11.3 days to secure a tenant for a property, highlighting the high demand for properties in the city and helping explain why rents continue to climb. The UK average rent is £876pcm (and Scotland average is £625pcm), reiterating just how strong the rental market is in Edinburgh.

Citylets have also just published their regularly quarterly rental market update (Q3 2019). Confusingly, their figures are slightly higher than Zoopla’s with rents in Edinburgh reported to have hit another all-time-high of £1,148pcm and Time To Lets (TTLs) creeping upwards (on average 27 days). Citylets have been consistently producing accurate data on the Scottish lettings market so their figures are our favoured barometer of the health of the lettings market. You can read our take on reported rents and TTLs in our recent blog.

Read our interpretation of the Citylets Q3 market update here.

According to Warners Solicitors & Estate Agents, the Edinburgh sales market is at its busiest for a decade after they saw sales increase by 20% this summer (June-Aug) from last year. Warners advertised 250 properties; their highest number in more than 10 years, delivering a much needed supply of properties coming to the market to satisfy buyer demand. Alongside this increased supply, the average time for selling a property has increased from 16 to 21 days; a sign of a healthier market (although still a very quick selling time compared with historical figures).

Controls on Airbnbs are on their way…. But we’re still waiting – over the past year or so it seems that you couldn’t go a week without reading in the press about the effect of short term lettings on Scottish City Centres and in particular, Edinburgh where; “More than 2,700 listings were recorded…..with the city’s Old Town area found to have 812 active Airbnb listings per square kilometre”. The Government have now reported on their ongoing consultation and a plan is expected before the end of 2019; likely licensing or registration scheme. We’ll have to wait and see what route the Government decides to go down however when controls finally come into force we expect to see a flurry of city centre properties returning to the long-term letting market, a trend that has already started, with Umega taking on 25 properties over the past year from landlords switching from Airbnb to long-term lettings.