If you’re looking for a rental home in Newport Wales, you might struggle to find what you’re searching for. But, if you’re on the rental hunt in Aberdeen Scotland, you’ll likely have more luck – at least that’s what new data on available rental stock levels suggests.

A new report calculates that the lowest level of rental stock available in a UK city is in Newport, where just 13.5% of all housing stock listed for sale and rent is available for tenants. Although rental demand might not be as high in the Welsh city as it is elsewhere, judging by other figures about the UK’s rental market, it still isn’t enough to satisfy demand.

UK city rental stock levels

Wile Newport has a dearth of rental properties available for tenants wanting to live there, other cities are also struggling to supply potential tenants with the homes they want:

• Bristol has the second lowest rental stock level at 15.8% of all listing.
• Next is Glasgow, with rental stock making up just 16.4% of properties available to buy or rent.
• Belfast has the fourth lowest level of rental stock at 16.8%.
• The city with the fifth lowest level of rental stock is Plymouth, at 24.9%.

Looking at the other end of the spectrum, the cities with the highest levels of residential stock available are:

• Aberdeen with 62.2% of all properties listed on the portals for rent.
• Newcastle ranks second with 53.5%.
• Oxford is third on the list with rental listings making up 47.3%.
• Then comes London, with 42.1%.
• Southampton makes up the top five with rental listings making up 41.2%.

Of course, busy cities like those listed above are always likely to have more homes available to rent, particularly those places where there’s a lot of work and opportunity.

However, even though investors might flock to those cities with larger populations and a variety of busy industries, those other cities where tenants appear underserved could actually present a real opportunity for investors looking to grow their portfolios or even for someone interesting in starting out as a Buy-To-Let (BLT) landlord.

“This data not only suggests where tenants might struggle to find a place to rent due to an imbalance of rental to sale stock but perhaps also where has seen the largest exodus of buy-to-let landlords due to recent changes in legislation with lettings stock dwindling while the amount of property for sale increases,” Calum Brannan, founder and CEO of Howsy.

“It also highlights that in areas such as Newport, Bristol and Glasgow where rental stock is very low, there is a real opportunity for the professional buy-to-let landlord due to a higher level of tenant demand with a lower investment cost,” he added. 

Could this be a good opportunity for landlords and tenants?

These figures currently show that some tenants are underserved, while some property investors or BTL landlords could find a new market that’s ripe for investment.

Of course, as a landlord, it’s important to undertake careful research before you make your investment. Even if there’s demand for rental homes, you need to ensure you invest in and provide the right type of home and at the right price.

Another detail to consider is investing with confidence your tenants can and will pay their rent. One way to help gain peace-of-mind on this point is by using a business-based rent guarantor, like ours. We use intelligent technology that assesses your tenant applicant before approving their application to use our Rent Guarantor service.

We consider every type of tenant, whatever their background and if they pass through our checks, we’ll provide them with the guarantor you want to help your tenancy agreement proceed.