![January blue.jpg](https://www.propertymark.co.uk/static/f0b63023-b1a2-41bb-83f455a523dc54b6/resourcedetailfeaturedimage_b1168726dfdacffcf69995c5085ad40c/January-blue.jpg)
Demand from tenants
- Demand from prospective tenants in January increased to the highest level on record with 88 prospective tenants registered per branch compared to 56 the previous month.
- This means that agents have witnessed a 57 per cent increase in the number of prospective tenants registered since December.
- Year-on-year, demand for rental accommodation has increased by a fifth (21 per cent), rising from 73 in January 2019 to 88.
Supply of rental stock
- However, the number of properties managed per branch fell from 206 in December to 191 in January.
- Supply has not been this low since July last year when it stood at 184.
- Year-on-year supply is down from 197 in January 2019, but up from 184 in January 2018.
Rent prices
- The number of tenants experiencing rent increases rose in January, with 42 per cent of letting agents witnessing landlords increasing them, compared to 32 per cent in December last year.
- Year-on-year, this figure is up from 26 per cent in January 2019, and 19 per cent in January 2018 [Figure 1].
![Rent increses year on year for January](https://www.propertymark.co.uk/static/d6f46e00-2ce2-4565-9edc84ca90da986c/580x290_highestperformance_/rent-increase-jan-2020.png)
Figure 1: Average number of tenants experiencing rent hikes in January year-on-year