Dedication Is What You Need

Tim Newman Head of Marketing

Over the course of the year, we’ve seen host of ‘record breaking’ events making the news. In July, the UK saw its highest ever official recorded temperature, with Coningsby in Lincolnshire reaching 40.3 °C (104.5 °F). The UK inflation rate then reached a record 40 year high, peaking at over 10%. And, more recently, Liz Truss claimed the unwelcome record for being the shortest serving Prime Minister, lasting just 45 days.

All this talk brings to mind the Record Breakers TV series that I watched growing up in the 80s, and particularly the late great Roy Castle with his famous singing catchphrase ‘dedication is what you need’. It also got me thinking about some recent records that have been broken in the rental market, and how the need for ‘dedication’ from BTL lenders, brokers and their landlord clients has perhaps never been greater.

In their Q3 Rent Index Report, our friends at The Deposit Protection Service (The DPS) reported on the latest trends in the sector based on their huge pool of landlord data. This showed a rapid annual rental growth of 8.68% over the last 12 months, and the five biggest % increases in quarterly rental income since The DPS started gathering data in 2007.

In fact, quarter 2 saw growth accelerating faster than ever before, up 2.47% (£21), the first-time quarterly growth has exceeded 2%, and Q3 was only just behind that with a 2.18% increase. When it comes to regional data, rents in London stand out as they accelerated by 4.24% (£61) to £1,499 during Q3 2022. Over the past 12 months, average rents in the capital increased by 11.95% (£160).

Yorkshire, the North West, East Midlands, Northern Ireland, and the East of England also saw rent increases of more than 2% during Q3 2022. Across the UK, flats saw the greatest percentage rent increase between Q3 2021 and Q3 2022, up £79 (9.52%), from £830 to £909. In addition to increasing rents, interest rates are also on the up. Although they are yet (thankfully) a long way off record levels, the volatile funding market is causing issues for lenders, brokers and landlords alike. At Zephyr, we’re not immune to these issues, but we’ll always do everything we can to give you as much notice as possible when we reprice our rates, so there are no sudden shocks if you’ve got a case in progress.

Dedicated to specialist BTL lending

As a specialist BTL lender, at our heart is broad criteria on a range of property types for individuals, limited companies, and portfolio investors. What you may consider as being complex, such as large portfolios, could be our bread and butter. And, with manual underwriting, provided by underwriters you can speak with, and a dedicated BDM to give you a helping hand, you will have peace of mind knowing your case is in safe hands.

So, as we look ahead to the next set of records making headlines in the national news or closer to home in the property market - you can be sure that Zephyr will remain dedicated to the specialist BTL market and are ready to help you with any possible cases.

To keep up to date on the latest news from Zephyr, please follow us on LinkedIn and register for emails via our website.

Have a read of the full Q3 2022 Rent Index report and regional summaries:www.depositprotection.com/news-insights/dps-