The name may have changed, but the story in Scotland’s PRS remains very much the same at the end of Q1 2024, according to the latest Q1 report from CityLets, which says that Scottish landlords are still reaching for their school algebra books.

However, for those seeking new lets, conditions improved for many in the first quarter of 2024. The rate of annual growth, having eased last quarter in many key locations, falling back to single digits, continued to move downwards in Scotland’s cities with associated Time To Lets (TTLs) significantly lengthened.

CityLets reported: ‘Should this continue into next quarter we may well see growth figures reminiscent of long term averages after what may transpire to have been post pandemic market distortion aggravated by emergency legislation.’

Industry consensus is firmly of the view that current and proposed future controls have already stopped large scale additional supply and undermined the motivation of some individual landlords to remain in the PRS in Scotland.

With public funds for affordable housing reduced not increased, it is hard to see where the new housing stock in other tenures is going to come from to reduce the demand on the PRS, which may be put under chronic strain to remain at a size necessary to house those who seek to reside there.