New national rental index launches today

A new national rental index launches today, targeted at investors looking to get the highest yields on their property investments.

The report publishers say it will allow investors to track rental pricing trends in different regions. They say it will also provide evidence to help make informed investment decisions and help landlords evaluate the performance of property portfolios.

However, the new index is entirely at odds with the longer-established one from LSL.

It is being launched by Move with Us, a network of property agents, in conjunction with an economist at the London School of Economics and property search engine Home.co.uk which aggregates listings from all the main UK portals.

The first report, out this morning, pinpoints an immediate problem, however: it puts rents much higher than the LSL report, quoting an average of £970 per month against £741. In London, the Move with Us index puts London prices ‘stable’ at £2,270 per month, against LSL’s booming £1,062.

Such large discrepancies could cause investors problems, and the explanation for the differences are hard to find: LSL quotes asking price rents, but so does the new Move with Us index, as it is based on rental properties being marketed through portals.

According to the new Move with Us index, average rents fell slightly early in Q3, before recovering in September.

Robin King, director of Move with Us, said he expects rents to rise over the current quarter.