Lettings Market Update March 2025

Reflections on the current lettings market

The local market has remained strong into early 2025, with both our North and South Leeds offices staying consistently busy. We've seen solid numbers for both valuations and applications, and even with upcoming changes in legislation, property valuations are up 12% year-on-year.

As you may already know, the upcoming Renters' Rights Bill is set to bring some major changes to the rental market. Although it hasn’t come into effect yet, we’re already seeing its impact—particularly in how long landlords are taking before listing their properties. With new compliance requirements on the horizon, many landlords are using this time to do their due diligence and get everything in place to ensure a smooth transition when the changes come into force. Because of this, we anticipate a rise in new instructions later in the year as landlords feel more prepared to move forward.

While landlords may be taking a little longer to get their properties ready for market, we’re already seeing the positive results. The quality of homes currently available is some of the best we’ve seen in quite a while. With rental demand continuing to outpace supply across Leeds, these well-prepared properties are attracting strong interest—giving landlords the opportunity to set competitive rental prices and achieve healthy yields.

Opportunity outweighs area

At times, we see certain areas within our coverage experience a noticeable surge in activity—often driven by key factors that boost tenant demand and signal that these locations are on the rise. However, so far in 2025, no single area is standing out in terms of the volume of new properties hitting the market. Instead, landlords appear to be taking a more balanced, strategic approach—listing properties based on where they see the best opportunities, with a continued focus on quality over quantity.

Out with the old

As we've mentioned a few times, the quality of properties hitting the market is a key trend we expect to continue throughout 2025 and beyond. By quality, we're referring to factors like the overall living standard, the level of compliance with the upcoming Renters' Rights Legislation, and improved EPC ratings. One of the main goals of the new legislation is to raise the standard of rental homes, and even though it hasn't been passed yet, we're already seeing its effects take shape in the market.

Naturally, this shift will mean some landlords, particularly the more traditional ones, may decide to exit the market. These landlords may not want to deal with the extra hassle and costs required to bring their properties up to the new compliance standards. However this change presents fresh opportunities for new landlords to step in—and we’re already seeing that in 2025. Our valuations are up 12% year-on-year, with many of these coming from new landlords eager to understand the upcoming changes and ready to meet all compliance requirements.

The upcoming changes are fast approaching, and there's no doubt they’ll have a lasting impact on the rental market for years to come. However, based on what we've seen so far in 2025, most landlords are ready to embrace these changes, while new landlords are viewing it as a great opportunity. As a result, the quality of properties across Leeds is improving—a trend we expect to continue. These higher-quality properties are likely to attract better-quality tenants and give more professional landlords the ability to charge higher rental prices.