LSL to outline future of PRS

Speaking to the Council of Mortgage Lenders Jones will predict that average rents in England and Wales will hit £800 per month by mid-2015 (up 21% since 2010).

Jones will also say that she expects tenant finances to gradually improve despite rent rises and that rent arrears should halve between 2008 and 2018.

LSL projects that one in five people (20%) will live in privately rented accommodation by 2015.

Jones will say: “Fundamentally, buying a home is still becoming less affordable, not more. Renting was the future before the recession – it cushioned many during – and it’s still the future for millions.

“By the middle of this decade at least one in five people in the UK will be living in privately rented accommodation.

“At some point in the summer of 2015, rents are set to reach an average of £800 per month. Such levels of demand show the practical importance of this industry – and the importance of the financial mechanisms that make its expansion possible.”

Full details of the speech will be available on Mortgage Introducer later today.