Tenant demand for rental homes climbed by +1.5% during the first quarter of 2024, with almost a third of all homes listed for rent already being snapped up by renters.

The latest research by Zero Deposit analysed rental demand across each county in England based on the number of available rental properties that have already seen a let agreed as a proportion of the total rental stock available.

The latest figures for Q1 2024 show that 31.8% of all rental homes listed to rent had already been taken by tenants, meaning that rental demand has increased by +1.5% versus Q4 2023.

While only a handful of counties saw tenant demand climb during the final quarter of last year, no less than 34 have seen rental demand increase on a quarterly basis during the first three months of 2024.

The Isle of Wight has seen the largest increase in demand for rental homes, with demand climbing by +14.8% on a quarterly basis. Cornwall has also seen a significant quarterly increase at +14.3%, with Northumberland (+11.9%), Dorset (+10.6%) and West Sussex (+7.9%) also ranking within the top five.

In contrast, Tyne and Wear has seen the largest reduction in demand for rental homes ( -7%) versus Q4 2023, followed by North Yorkshire (-6.1%), City of London (-4.3%), Merseyside (-3.2%) and Nottinghamshire (-2%).