Home Made predicts that the recession would cause UK residential rents to fall by at least 5% until 2024

Analysis from proptech rental service Home Made predicts that the recession would cause UK residential rents to fall by at least 5% until 2024, costing UK residential landlords four times the losses made in the 2008 recession.

London would be the most impacted region with a rental income decline of at least 9% or £3.9bn in losses for the capital’s landlords by the time pre-Covid rent levels return. Home Made projects that Westminster, Tower Hamlets and Wandsworth would be hit the worst in the city.

Asaf Navot, founder and chief executive of Home Made, said: “Landlords across the UK need to brace themselves for reduced returns. In a recession, renters with tighter budgets are less inclined to take a risk and move homes due to reduced disposable income and increased job market uncertainty which drives rents down - and the Covid-19 recession looks likely to hit harder than any in living memory.

“We’re yet to see the full extent of the recession and it’s likely to be a renters’ market for the foreseeable future, but this is far from doomsday. The good news is rental property is a more robust investment than others in a recession, protected from the extreme peaks and troughs of the sales market as people still need to rent homes, even if they’re cutting on other costs such as travel and leisure.”

Home Made’s full projections for income lost for residential landlords in London are below: