Cardwells Estate Agent on Bolton's rental market

Rents are soaring in commuter towns and in Bolton it takes around 20 minutes by train to travel from the town to the centre of Manchester.

A let cost an average of £569 in December 2020 and rose to £789 by December 2023, a 38.7 per cent increase.

The growing cost of new lets in Bolton has outpaced Manchester, where rents have risen 37.8% in three years, from £776 a month to £1,069.

Last year alone Bolton experienced the highest rent rise of any UK area in the Zoopla survey - 14.8 per cent.

Over the past three years, rents in the town have grown at the second highest rate of all the areas covered in the research.

Nationally, the cost of a new let rose twice as fast as earnings in six British cities and towns over the last three years, according to data from property website Zoopla provided to the BBC.

At the same time, areas in commuting distance from major cities have seen some of the sharpest increases in rent prices.

Andrew Cardwell at Cardwells Estate Agents, said: “First, it is supply to the market, a number of landlords have stepped away from the Private Rental Sector over the last few years, so there has been less supply of property.

“This has primarily been because the tax burden on landlords has increased and therefore the profit margins have been put under increasing pressure.

"Less supply to the market means that the properties that do come to the market are more sought after which in a basic supply and demand curve, pushes prices up.”

But despite the news, Andrew maintains that rent in Bolton is still considerably cheaper than towns such as Bury, Rochdale, Warrington and Manchester, in the Zoopla study.

Andrew said: “So, those looking to rent a property can actually find that they can get a lot more for their money in Bolton in comparison to other nearby places.”

But MP Yasmin Qureshi, said there was a ‘rent crisis’ in Bolton and people were being priced out of Manchester due to rising costs and then moving to Bolton as a result.

She said: “While I fully support a strong Manchester, we need a strong Bolton too.

“Being part of Greater Manchester is of wider benefit to us as a town, but I do not want us to become a dormitory town for Manchester.

“We need good jobs in Bolton and the government need to invest properly in housing and regulate the market.

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“We clearly do not have enough houses to meet demand so private renters can charge more knowing some will be able to afford to pay or give up more of their wage to do so.”

Labour Cllr Jack Khan, runs a letting agency and said he had seen a sharp increase in rent as well.

He said: “Three years ago or pre-Covid, an average two- bed was £500 and now it's £700 plus.

“Landlords’ mortgages have shot up and in most cases, landlords have had to increase due to mortgage costs but in some instances, we have people putting up prices for greed as they know they can get higher here.”

Executive director of research at Zoopla, Richard Donnell, said: “Rents have risen fastest in UK cities, but affordability pressures have pushed renters to seek better value for money in commuter towns where there are more homes for rent.

“Big cities have led the way on rental growth as demand rises in the face of static rental supply – we have the same number of rented homes as in 2016.

“Demand has been driven by the unaffordability of home ownership, the re-opening of the economy post-pandemic, strong jobs market, record student numbers and high immigration for study and work.

“The reality is that rents have risen as much as mortgage payments for those moving rented home after the average stay, but with no meaningful support for renters, unlike mortgagees.”

“Only increasing supply and getting more homes built across all tenures is the answer.”