RENTAL SHORTAGE, PRICES SWELL OVER 12% IN LONDON

Independent property consultants, Sandfords, says that average rental prices have increased by over 12% year-on-year as demand continues to exceed supply. They attribute the exodus of buy-to-let investors from the market in the last few years, but landlords are beginning to return, encouraged by higher yields and increasing mortgage availability. Andrew Ellinas, director of Sandfords, comments: “This will have an impact on rental price growth, which I expect to slow in the second half of 2011 as more properties come onto the market reducing competition.”