An interesting analysis of the current rental stock shortage has been undertaken by Sky News.

Using data from property consultancy TwentyCi, Sky says that n September 2019 there were 120,610 new rental listings at an average price of £1,290. But last month – September 2022 – rental listings in the UK were almost a third lower, while prices were over a fifth higher.

In some places the drop in listings has been even greater.

In Bradford there were 688 new listings at an average price of £557 in September 2019 but by last month there were half as many new listings as there were three years ago, while rents were 26 per cent higher.

Sky News analysis of data from flat-sharing service SpareRoom shows that the average number of inquiries per rental ad in the UK is almost four times what it was in September 2019, rising from 3.2 to 11.9.

And looking at the fundamental cause of the problem – an overall shortage of housing – Sky says that successive governments have failed to delivery on house building pledges. 

Specifically it says in their 2019 manifesto the Conservatives pledged to “continue to increase the number of homes being built” with an emphasis on rebalancing the market towards more homeownership. 

However, Sky found that there is still a long way to go when it comes to house building. In the decade to 2021, the population grew faster or at the same pace as the number of homes in 150 out of 309 local authorities.

You can see the whole Sky News analysis here.