WREXHAM is the busiest rental market in the UK, according to new figures as estate agents are struggling to meet the housing demand.

Rightmove's demand tracker has revealed that Wrexham is currently the busiest rental market in the UK, with the average letting agent currently receiving 54 enquiries for every rental home that comes onto the market.

The average advertised rent cost per month in Wrexham is £967, the third cheapest in the top 20. The most expensive was in Bath and North East Somerset, with an average monthly rent price of £1,784.

A recent report from Rightmove also identified that a record proportion of former rental homes are now available on the sales market, a sign of more landlords selling up, with high mortgage rates, a potential increase to capital gains tax and increased costs to landlords all potential drivers of the increase.

This is the case for Wrexham estate agent Whitegates, who have lost 10% of their rental portfolio to landlords selling up. 

The company, which has been operating in the city for over 25 years currently has no rental properties available, such is the demand for houses. 

Chris Hamill from Whitegates, said: "There's a massive demand for rental properties in Wrexham at the minute and that demand is only going to get stronger. 

"The lack of properties is the key issue. It really stared after covid, as an industry we were shut down for five months without being able to let properties. 

"House prices have shot up since covid so landlords are looking at properties differently now. They can now sell them and take the profit, rather than keep it as a rental. 

"The Welsh Government also introduced more and more legislation which has changed the industry. The more and more red tape you have the more likely landlords are to leave the market. It's a hassle for landlords so why would they want that - it's easer to sell. 

"We've lost about 10% of our rental portfolio as landlords don't want the hassle, so imagine that across the rest of Wrexham and then across Wales. That's caused loads of properties to be sold, which is good for first time buyers but bad for people looking to rent. 

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"We're getting over 100 enquiries for each rental within 24 hours, I do feel sorry for rental tenants as it's a difficult place to be. If we can help people we will, but right now we have no available rental properties. 

"We've been operating in Wrexham for well over 25 years and we have no rental properties, it's a difficult position to be in having no properties. 

"If you gave us a new build with 50 properties, we'd let them out within a week, the demand is there but I don't know what the answer is to fix it."

​Tim Bannister, Rightmove’s property expert, said: “Whilst at a high-level there has been an easing in the rental market compared with last year, from speaking with agents, we know that many local markets are yet to feel the effect from these improvements.

"At the same time, prospective tenants are still likely to be experiencing a very hot and competitive market. To be receiving upwards of 50 enquiries per available rental property in some local areas is an astonishing figure, which goes to show the significant amount of work still to be done to improve the balance of supply and demand across different areas of Great Britain.”

If any landlords are looking to let properties, you can contact Whitegates on 01978 312123.