Let to Buy: New Survey from Vaboo reveals how the rise in cost of living has affected tenant plans to buy.

This financial crisis has had a huge impact on the rental market, affecting millions of rented homes. As of February 2022, rent prices had risen by 8.6% with a record high price of £1,069, according to HomeLet Rental Index. And in April that figure was still rising at around 11% with highs of 14 % in the Capital.

Many people are left fearing the very real issue of being able to afford rent as the monthly cost to let a home continues to rise. Statistics for this year show that many families in Britain are around £1,000 worse off per year than they previously were, with prices rising as wages remain stagnant.

With a shortage of homes to rent and a booming sales market, there has been much speculation over the trajectory of the rental market and how plans to buy have been affected by the crisis.  To find out, a new survey of just under 10,000 tenants aged 18 to 65 and was undertaken by Vaboo, a PropTech platform that creates and manages tenant rewards and engagement platforms for letting agents.

Vaboo collects real-time data each month from over 150,000 tenants as part of their competition for users to win a month’s rent from their Letting Agent, as well as other cash prizes. Agent customers have access to the responses from their own customers to maximise on opportunities to support their plans, as well as offer other complimentary financial services.

The survey revealed that over 84% of tenants surveyed were worried about the rising costs of living.  Vaboo also uncovered that the top concern was household bills – with over 80% of tenants looking for ways for their letting agent to help.

Over 5000 tenants have provided information* on their plans to buy in the last few months. The survey uncovered that 49% per cent of tenants said they were still likely to buy after their current rental with 34% likely to buy in the next 2 years.  This is a huge untapped resource for letting agents to turn great relationships into sales - an opportunity many are missing.

However – the cost of living is showing an impact on those saving to buy longer term – 26% responded that they were saving to move in the next 3-4 years – down from 30% at the end of 2021 and a further 19% (down from 21%) would be in a position to buy in around 5 years.

Some 22% of tenants surveyed said that they would be renting long term.  With positive engagement, great communication and superb customer service, this gives agents huge potential for long term relationships, regular income and reduction in void periods.

With 28% still unsure of what they want to do in the current climate there is still plenty of opportunity in the PRS as well as property sales.

Jonathan Stein, CEO at Vaboo said “Times of crisis is when the best agents come to the fore. They understand the needs of their clients, of their tenants, and the requirement to build relationships which will persist long after this financial crisis is over. It is undoubtedly a challenging time but one which we will come through stronger than before and with a greater flexibility and understanding to help us be resilient and adaptable in the times to come. By building trust and proving they are committed to improving their renting experience, they can ensure that whatever they decide, they are the agent of choice.

For more information on how you can maximise opportunities for your agency get in touch at Vaboo.co.uk/demo