ARLA Propertymark has issued its April Private Rented Sector (PRS) Report, which revealed that in April, letting agents saw the highest number of landlords selling their buy-to-let (BTL) properties since records began in 2015. The number of landlords exiting the market rose to five per branch, up from four in March, which was also up from three the month before.

However, the number of prospective tenants registered per member branch continued to rise, increasing by 9% in April. In March, agents had 66 tenants on their books on average, compared to 72 in April. This is the strongest demand seen since September, when there were 79 registered per branch.

The number of tenants experiencing rent hikes increased to 26% in April – the highest since September 2017 when 27% of landlords put rents up for tenants. Year on year, this has risen from 24% in April 2017.

The number of rental properties letting agents managed remained the same as the previous month in April, with 179 on average per branch. However, year on year, this figure is low. In April 2017, agents managed 185 per branch but in April 2015 they managed 193 per branch.