Prime Regional

A similar differential in rental performance was seen in the prime regional market. Smaller properties servicing core market demand have generally performed the most strongly, with one and two bedroom units delivering annual price growth 
of 4.3%, bringing total growth over the three years to 11.7%.

"There continues to be strong 
demand for good quality four bedroom accommodation in locations with access to good schools"

By contrast, there has been a much thinner market for large properties at the top end, which continue to be price sensitive. Rental value for properties with six or more bedrooms rose by just 1.1% over the course of 2014, with the growth over three years around half the level seen for the smallest properties.

click on image below to enlarge

Across these prime regional 
lettings markets performance has continued to be location specific with the town markets of Guildford, Harpenden, Tunbridge Wells and Winchester delivering the highest levels of annual growth.

There continues to be strong 
demand for good quality four bedroom accommodation in town 
or city locations with access to good schools. Such property showed rental growth of 4.6% over the year. There is a much smaller pool of demand for similar sized properties in village or rural locations, which showed rental growth of just 1.2% last year.

This means prime four bedroom rental properties in town locations currently carry a 10% premium above equivalent stock in a village or rural location, despite the latter being on average 19% larger.

Taken from
Spotlight: Prime Rental Market - January 2015