According to those looking at the data for 2023, a mismatch between supply and demand in the housing market is going to keep the private rental sector in a good position for this year.
The rising price of homes and inflated mortgage rates mean that more people are waiting to buy, and therefore they will continue to rent for some time yet.
Many have also turned to renting rooms rather than full properties, due to affordability. But some statistics indicate that there were approximately 245,351 renters searching for rooms last year, and only 34,085 rooms available.
Flat share website Spare Room recently did a poll that suggested a further decline in supply. It indicated that 41% of landlords and agents are either looking to reduce their portfolio in 2023 or exit the rental market altogether.
Demand for rental properties was at an all-time high in late summer and early autumn last year. While supply was at a low that hasn’t been seen in nine years. This year, all indications point to the situation only getting worse.
But What Does the Supply Shortage Mean for Letting Agents?
Every new rental listing that goes live is going to attract a multitude of applicants. Agencies will quickly get bogged down with calls. They will need to be churning through references at a fast rate to not fall behind – especially in the busy seasons.
Time is money, so saving time on pre-vetting tenants is going to be a massive boost to business process.
What is Pre-Vetting?
Pre-vetting is a way of investigating an applicant’s background before entering talks about a potential tenancy. It’s great for matching the best tenants and the right property together, before even getting to the stage of a viewing.
The lettings market moves fast in any case, even when supply and demand aren’t so mismatched. Agents can always benefit from using pre-vetting to know more about potential tenants earlier in their process. This way they can match a tenant with a property based on the pre-vetting findings. Then get in touch with them to offer a viewing. It’s a much better option than wasting time on tenants viewing properties that are out of their price range. Or tenants later failing checks for another reason, after that time has been spent.
In these mismatched supply and demand circumstances, it’s going to be even more essential to the working process of the agencies to find ways to speed up their workflow.
Those that don’t, face crumbling under the pressure of the busy seasons – and perhaps seeing staff exit the job. They could also find an increase in errors or rushed referencing. This can create a spike of problems in the following months, because the properties were let to less ideal tenants in the hurry.
Property Passport™ Provides a Solution to Overwhelmed Agencies
A pre-Vetting product like Property Passport™ is an ideal solution. It is a free, online referencing CV that can be filled in by tenants online.
They complete their application, and share it with their letting agents at the click of a button. Then can be immediately reviewed and put forward for appropriate property viewings.
It saves crucial business resources by reducing the view-to-let ratio. Agents can just refer to a portfolio of pre-qualified tenants and find a suitable match in a matter of minutes.
Because a tenant can create a Property Passport™ completely free at the point of enquiry, it doesn’t breach any rules and provides the agent with a better insight into the tenant’s circumstances. While also providing a free credit check.
Property Passport™ Benefits Letting Agencies and Landlords Alike
This pre-vetting service will decrease fall-through rate for lettings and speed up the average time taken to complete certification checks, as it immediately identifies who is suitable before the agent has spent time and money on petrol etc when driving to viewings.
Landlords like agents who are using Property Passport™, because they are happy with the idea that the agent has a bank of pre-qualified tenants lined up to get the property let faster. Unlike traditional referencing, Property Passport™ can follow a tenant from let to let, building up information continually.