Demand for rented accommodation boomed +56% over the past year, according to Your Move.

Despite a +7.6% month-on-month slowdown in the number of people signing up to new leases, rental demand in January 2009 was up by +56.4% on 2008.

David Newnes, managing director of Your Move, said: “As far as the 2008 property market was concerned, rental demand was a diamond in the rough. House prices were falling, no one could get a mortgage for love nor money, and every day heralded fresh news of economic Armageddon. While the mortgage market was still in dire straits, the drop in lending boosted the lettings market.

“But January 2009 saw something different. Although people are still choosing to rent while they wait for property prices to finally bottom out, the number of mortgage approvals has increased. The slight dip in demand for lettings, and the up-tick in mortgage approvals seem to suggest that now most of the banks are owned by the government, they’ve been forced to start lending again. I think a lot of Government pressure is being applied to lenders to start offering some decent mortgages - rental demand has suffered as a result.”