Fears of a further fall in Northern Ireland house prices, job worries and stricter bank lending helped push average property rents in Belfast up 4% in the second quarter of 2010, a major research report reveals.

The detailed quarterly report by Northern Ireland’s largest dedicated online lettings site, Citylets, shows that tenants in Belfast and Greater Belfast were paying out an average £564 a month during the three months to end-June against £544 pounds registered in the three months before.

Properties were also snapped up quicker, the company said, with the time taken by landlords to let properties falling to an average 48 days from 57 days during the first quarter. This nine-day improvement in the time to let is indicative of increasing demand from tenants as well as potential supply constraints.

Citylets.co.uk analyst Dan Cookson, who compiled the report, said: "The deflation of Northern Ireland's property market bubble, worries over job security and tougher lending criteria for first-time buyers continues to have a positive impact on demand from prospective tenants, who feel that these challenging economic times mean renting is the better or indeed only option."

-- Advertisement --

"Our analysis shows that while rents are down on last year, there are signs of recovery with improved time to lets, which bodes well for a sector which generates more than £620 million in receipts to the local economy every year.

"It also shows that the private rented sector has held its own when compared with the dramatic falls seen in the value of house prices overall, which, according to Department of Communities and Local Government, are down 35% in NI from the peak in August 2007."

The Citylets quarterly rental report is based on collected and analysed data that spans two years and which includes data supplied from more than 30 of Northern Ireland’s largest letting agents including Ulster Property Sales, Templeton Robinson and BTW Cairns.

Although average monthly rents rose during the second quarter, they are down on the same quarter a year ago, with a 6.6% annual drop registered to the end of June 2010.

The £564 per-month average compares with £755 in Edinburgh, £590 in Glasgow and £854 in Aberdeen. The average monthly rental price for a two-bed property in Dublin is around £850 (or €1,000).

The firm’s founder and managing director, Thomas Ashdown, said: "Set against the plunge in property prices we have witnessed in the last few years, the private rented sector has remained relatively stable, which is good news for landlords and tenants alike.

"The volume of rental properties coming on to the market has increased significantly but this now seems to have been met with reasonably good demand from a generation of tenants with more choice than ever."

The report also shows that the increase in rental values was not the same for all properties and varied according to size. Average rents for one-bed properties were £485 in the second quarter (up 3.6% in the year), while rents for four-bed properties were £758 (a drop of 9.9% in the year). Average monthly rental costs for three-bed properties fell 5.8% to £567.

(GK/BMcC)