Member Article

Data Reveals Affordability Levels Of City Living

RESEARCH by city living specialist Morgans, reveals that the vast majority of tenants renting apartments in Leeds city centre spend less than 30 per cent of their gross salary on rent.

Morgans, which manages Leeds city centre’s largest apartment portfolio, has analysed data from hundreds of new tenants since the start of the year to determine how much rent people pay as a proportion of their income.

The data reveals that 38 per cent of new tenants are spending between 21 and 30 per cent of their pre-tax salary on rent and 31 per cent spend between 11 and 20 per cent. Just 16 per cent have committed to rents that amount to between 31 and 40 per cent of their wage.

In stark contrast, figures from The House of Commons Library, which provides impartial information and research services, revealed that in London, private-sector rental costs have rocketed from 49 per cent of average pre-tax income to 62 per cent since 2010.

Jonathan Morgan, Managing Director of Morgans, says: “As part of our credit checking process, we always make sure that tenants can comfortably afford the rental prices they are committing to, which reduces the risk of them running into financial difficulties.

“It’s encouraging to see that rental prices are affordable for the vast majority of tenants who rent apartments in Leeds city centre, which is in stark contrast to many other parts of the country. This is despite the fact that tenant demand continues to outstrip supply with our occupancy levels averaging over 99.5% per cent over the last two years.

“Even with rents being realistic, landlords investing in buy to let apartments can still expect to achieve gross rental yields of more around 6 or 7% in Leeds city centre. These attractive yields combined with the latest cut in interest rates and the ongoing improvements across so many parts of the city, are resulting a surge in investor activity which we can only see increasing over time.”

Morgans manages Leeds city centre’s largest portfolio of apartments ranging in price from £475 to over £2,500 per calendar month. The firm also has a dedicated corporate arm dealing with businesses relocating staff to Leeds and a highly experienced sales division marketing apartments for sale at between £90,000 and £825,000.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Steven Wright .