Number of homes for rent falls

The rental market looks to be stabilising after the number of new properties available to let nearly halved during May, figures have shown.

Website EasyRoommate.com found the number of new homes put on to the market during the month dropped from 62,765 in April to 34,088.

The group said as the housing market picks up, people who were initially forced to put their properties up for rent while their homes remained unsold were now withdrawing them from the rental sector.

A glut of rental properties coming on to the market from such `accidental landlords` over past year had forced down average rents. But the data add to growing evidence that conditions in the rental market are beginning to improve.

Falling levels of supply were reported in other letting surveys, while the rate at which rents had been falling appears to have stabilised, with rents even rising in some cases.

But as hard-pressed homeowners looked for extra ways to raise cash, EasyRoommate.com said the number of people advertising for lodgers was continuing to rise.

At the same time, the average rent being charged by live-in landlords has also increased by 8.1% since the beginning of the year to £400 a month in May.

Jonathan Moore, UK and Ireland country manager of EasyRoommate.com, said: "What we're hopefully seeing is a semblance of normality returning to the rental market as many homeowners who saw rental as a last chance saloon, are now more confident that they can find a buyer if they put their properties back on the market.

"In the second half of this year we would expect to see depressed average rental prices start to rise as the supply-demand balance begins to level out."