Specialist property consultancy, Knight Knox, has published the results of a survey that cast light on the priorities of tenants who were looking for rental accommodation.
The survey, which took place in Q4 2018 asked 2,000 UK renters for their opinion and found that the majority of tenants were looking for access to a garden or balcony, with 46% stating that they were looking for some kind of outdoor space.
On-site parking came in at second place with 41.5% of respondents saying that parking was a priority when looking for a rental property.
The third most requested feature for a property was modern interiors, with 23% of the 2,000 tenants asked stating that this was important to them.
More luxurious amenities like an onsite gym were less of a priority for the tenants that took part, with only 4.15% of tenants saying that they would prefer a gym in their apartment building.
When asked what factors they would typically consider when looking for a property, 40.8% of the respondents said that affordability was the most important factor they looked for in a property and 24.5% said that location was a priority for them.
When tenants were also asked how long they were likely to stay in a rental property for, the majority had no intentions of staying in their property on a long-term basis, with 29.75% saying that they only stay at their rental property for an average of 19 months to three years. However, 23.50% said that they would stay in their accommodation for five years or more.
In regard to the value for money, 59.30% were satisfied that the property they were renting was good value for money.
Andy Phillips, commercial director at Knight Knox, said: “These results give us an excellent insight and confirm what we already believed to be true. It’s clear that tenants put a great emphasis on having the essentials like outdoor space and a good location, whereas features like a gym are regarded as more of a luxury than a necessity. These findings are definitely worth considering when looking at a buy to let investment.”
