This is up from a UK-wide figure of three per cent two years ago.

The current proportion reaches 13 per cent in London.

“Some landlords may be crystallising gains to re-invest, and there is further evidence to suggest that investor activity has been on the rise since the start of the pandemic” explains the portal.

Zoopla says average UK house prices up £17,508 since the start of the pandemic, and now has hit a typical £235,000.

More landlords are quitting the sector and bringing properties to the sales market, according to research from Zoopla.

In its latest snapshot of the sales marker, the portal says that the proportion of homes listed for sale that were previously available for rent has risen to eight per cent across the UK. 

This is the highest average UK house price on record, and follows a consistent six month average increase of £44 per day; this acceleration in growth is up from £30 per day in the six months prior.

Since February of this year, value increases have ranged from £64 per day in the South East and £63 per day in the South West, to £24 per day in the North East. This equates to almost £12,000 growth for the two southern regions – almost triple that achieved by the North East.

Meanwhile, average house prices are up £23,357 in Cambridge since March 2020, whereas they have fallen by £2,600 in Aberdeen over the same period.

While the stamp duty holiday for England and Northern Ireland will conclude at the end of this week following the tapered period at the end of September, Zoopla insists there’s no sign that demand or activity is abating.

The sales market is continuing to move at its quickest pace for the past five years with the time between listing a property and agreeing a sale consistently averaging under 30 days each month since May. Typically, time to sell would be over 40 days at this time of year.

Additionally, buyer demand is still 35 per cent higher than average levels recorded over the last five years.

In London, buyer demand is up 14 per cent over the past month, albeit with demand for houses up 25 per cent and demand for flats rising a mere six per cent.

Supply & Demand Imbalance Increasing Rents

The imbalance of supply and demand for rental properties in suburban and rural areas has led to an 11% rise in asking rents compared to pre-pandemic levels, according to Rightmove.

The average asking rent in suburban areas across Great Britain is now £1,041 per calendar month, up from £940 in February 2020.

In rural areas, rents have jumped from £1,141 per calendar month to £1,264 now.

Urban rents are up by just £25 over the same time period, from £1,347 to £1,372.

Rightmove said a sustained desire from renters for more space outside of cities has led to increased demand for suburban properties, contributing to the number of available homes to rent in the suburbs dropping by 45% compared to before the pandemic, and 61% in rural areas.

This means more competition among tenants for the properties available, with tenant demand per rental property available in the suburbs rising by 155% compared to pre-pandemic levels, and soaring 224% in rural locations.

The analysis of more than 300,000 rental listings compared tenant demand and available rental stock across Great Britain in August 2021 with February 2020, to measure the impact of the pandemic on tenant behaviour and rental availability.

Of all the available rental properties on Rightmove, 64% were in urban locations, a jump up from 48% pre-pandemic.

The proportion of available properties in the suburbs dropped from 46% to 33%, while rural areas declined from 6% to 3%.

Tim Bannister, director of property data at Rightmove, said: “A notable impact of the pandemic on the rental market has been the change in distribution of available properties between urban and suburban areas.

“While the proportion of homes available to rent in urban and suburban areas remained steady in the years leading up to the pandemic, the data shows a significant change in 2020 as more renters looked to the suburbs.

“A desire to relocate and move to a home with more space has meant that demand has greatly outstripped supply in these areas and also in rural locations, which in turn is propping up asking rents.

“Now that more people are returning to offices at least part of the week, we’d expect to see greater demand for urban rentals over the coming months as more people need to be closer to work.

“However, the scale of change we’ve seen over the course of the pandemic means this shift isn’t going to happen overnight, and it will be interesting to continue to monitor the lasting impacts of the pandemic on demand in the rental market for the rest of the year.”

Darren Ellis, sales director at Bradleys Group, added: “Across our offices, which cover Somerset, Devon and Cornwall, the demand for properties in rural and semi-rural areas has reached fever pitch, with multiple applications for almost every property since the start of the year.

“As a result, tenants are offering above market prices to secure a property, and landlords can choose the application that best suits their position.

“The shortage of available homes, whether it be flats or houses, means landlords are experiencing short void periods.

“Whilst the market cooled very slightly towards the end of the summer, this appears to only reflect the lack of property, and not the demand from tenants, so it is likely this market will carry on for the foreseeable months over winter.”