Property rental area in Edinburgh: It’s come round again, the Citylets Quarterly report (Q1 2019) reviewing how the Edinburgh rental market has performed over the past few months. We (genuinely!) get excited to see what Citylets have to say and to compare with what we’re seeing at Umega.

Scottish rental market

Rents across Scotland increased 1.7% year on year (YOY), consistent with rental growth through 2018 with average rent now standing at £793pcm (slightly lower than the high of £799pcm in Q2 2018). Properties took on average 37 days to let (Time To Let or TTL) with 51% of properties letting within a month. The average Glasgow rent is sitting at £771pcm (2.9% annual growth), Aberdeen at £710pcm (3.5% annual drop) and Dundee at £620pcm (1% annual growth).

Edinburgh rental market

Focusing on Edinburgh, rents have continued to increase; up 5% in a year to an all time high of £1,115pcm.TTL’s have increased by 3 days to an average of 30 days, with the usual winter lull seemingly stretching out that little bit longer this year.

Breaking things down by property size, 1 bedroom properties let most quickly at 25 days (a 2 day improvement on last year), while 29% of 4 bedroom properties let within the first week (this is no doubt heavily influenced by the huge student demand in the city). The average rent for a 4 bedroom property is within a few pounds of £2,000pcm and the average 2 bedroom property is £1,103pcm.

Umega stats

Our lettings team get (very!) excited about data so we boil down our own TTLs to compare with the city-wide averages:

So, Edinburgh has seen a record breaking average rent and some creeping TTLs. It’s crazy to think an all time high has been set outwith the traditionally bonkers summer months; demonstrating the huge demand for rental property in Edinburgh. You could argue that if TTLs are increasing, landlords and letting agents may start to reduce asking rents slightly to attract tenants more quickly to minimise void periods and so average rents may plateau. However the busy summer period is about to kick off and so the recent slippage of TTLs might well be balanced off with increased tenant activity just around the corner.

We’re already looking forward to seeing what Citylets Q2 2019 has to say!