More young people are renting than ever before, and while house shares are fine, if you are in a couple then it’s nicer to get a place you can enjoy together.

For landlords, this means making sure that their properties are attractive to prospective tenants who fall into the young, professional couple category. But what is it that attracts people in this demographic to a property in the first place?

Image Source: Pexels

Flexible tenancy agreements

While some people prefer the stability that a long-term tenancy agreement provides, for young couples this can actually be a bit restrictive, and not ideal for their lifestyle or future plans.

For example, professionals renting an apartment in Manchester might value the flexibility that a short-term tenancy agreement affords them. So rather than having to be tied in for 12 months at a time, offering a property on a 1-month rolling contract could help get people through the door.

Obviously, this tactic works best in busy cities, but flexibility also has a place in slower-paced markets as well.

Internet connectivity

We live in an age when working from home is both increasingly popular and effectively unavoidable for a lot of people. That means broadband is a bigger asset for rental properties than ever before.

Bog standard packages will no longer cut the mustard for professional couples, especially in the case that they are both having to work from home at the same time. If fiber-optic broadband is available, then this will be a real selling point of a rental property, helping Zoom meetings run smoothly.

Location

Having spoken about the rise of remote work, it’s still worth talking about how location impacts the appeal of rental properties, both from the point of view of commuting and for leisure purposes.

Young couples will want to know how far they are from the nearest train station, bus stop, and regional airport. They will also be less interested in the availability of parking spaces, as public transport is more widely used by this age group, both for work and social purposes.

Functional space

Young couples with full-time jobs don’t always need their accommodation to provide them with lots of space for hosting guests or keeping kids entertained; more often than not, they are aiming for functional, practical uses for space above all else.

This means that if you don’t have a lot of square footage to work with, it is better to harness this as optimally as possible. A well-appointed kitchen, a second bedroom which can double up as a home office, and a bathroom which is big enough for two people to use, are all better than overdoing it with en suites, adding a wet room, or anything else superfluous to their lifestyle.

Unfussy interior design

Tenants don’t want to feel pigeonholed by the way a rental property is decorated, so choosing a neutral, modern interior is better than trying to express any specific personality or style.

Something as simple as taking down or painting over outdated wallpaper can make a real difference. Essentially, if a rental property is a blank page, then young couples can write their own story on it and will appreciate this from their landlords.

Competitive pricing

Young working couples have a limited budget, and lots of other obligations weighing on their monthly income, so rental prices matter a lot.

You can very much target a specific demographic depending on how you price your property, and if you go too much above the market average, then expect to wait a while to find tenants.