Howsy looked at rental listings across the major online portals and analysed demand across 23 major UK cities as well as each borough of London, based on the proportion of rental listings that had already been snapped up by renters as a percentage of all listings available online.  

By doing so, Howsy says that it was able to identify where the hottest pockets of the rental market currently are and where buy-to-let properties are flying off the shelves due to a combination of high tenant demand and lower levels of housing stock.

The firm reported: “When it comes to current demand, Newport is home to the highest level of tenant demand with 35% of all rental homes listed on the major portals already let. Bristol also remains one of the most in-demand cities for rental properties at 34%, with Nottingham (33%), Cambridge (33%) and Belfast (25%) also ranking in the top five. Plymouth (23%), Portsmouth (23%), Bournemouth (23%), Leicester (18%) and Manchester (18%) complete the top 10.  

“Aberdeen remains the least sought after area for rental properties in the UK with tenant demand at 5% followed by Swansea (8%) and Leeds (9%).”

Within the capital the firm said that Bexley, Bromley, Sutton and Lewisham are the hottest boroughs for tenants in 2020, with 38% of all rental stock listed online already being snapped up.