Rents still decreasing as over 200 properties remain on market for 2024/25

By Elliot Burrin and William Milne

Landlords are still decreasing rent prices as properties remain on the market for 2024/25, after prices continued to rise at the start of the academic year.

A previous Palatinate investigation found that, after several years of unprecedented rise, student house prices had started to fall with more properties remaining on the market than in previous years. 

In January 2022, for example, there were only 68 properties left to rent on StuRents for the 2022/23 academic year. However, in September 2024, over 200 properties remain on the market for 2024/25. Many of these properties have decreased in price, some by over £50 per person per week (pppw) compared to their price in October 2023.

Just under half of remaining properties on the market are priced at between £120 and £160 pppw. This is a significant price decrease from October 2023, where the modal price category was £180-£199 pppw, according to a Palatinate analysis of StuRents data. Overall, the median price for a property in DH1 is £148.14 pppw.

Loc8me, JW Wood, Frampton & Roebuck, and Harringtons have continued to decrease the price of some of their properties for 2024/25. Speaking to Palatinate, Harringtons explains that “our experience is that the best quality/value houses always go first.”

“Every year there are also houses with messy tenants and houses that for whatever reason are not popular, and these are discounted later in the letting season,” a spokesperson from Harringtons said. Palatinate also asked JW Wood, Loc8me, and Frampton & Roebuck for comment, but did not receive any responses.

The average weekly rent for a JW Wood property has fallen by almost £40 per person from October 2023 to September 2024. JW Wood, however, only has six properties remaining to let.

Loc8me, who in February and March were offering students incentives such as rent decreases, Netflix, and Deliveroo Gold, were letting out properties for an average of £173.50 pppw in March 2024. Now, in September 2024, this average has fallen to £149.45 with 24 properties left. One property on Ferens Close is being advertised as £113 pppw, bills excluded. 

Harringtons has decreased the price of some of its properties by over £80 pppw. A property on Flass Street, next to Rushford Court, is now priced as £129 pppw. In October 2023, the same property was advertised as £199, which had then fallen to £169 by March 2024.

A Harringtons property on Alexandria Crescent (Crossgate) has fallen from £179 pppw in October 2023, to £139 pppw in March 2024, and now finally to £80 pppw in September 2024 – meaning it is now over £5000 cheaper per person to let.

A spokesperson from Harringtons told Palatinate that the company had “recently taken on three large landlords from other agents whose properties had not been managed well”. These properties “had to be advertised at a significantly reduced rate to ensure the landlord does not end up with a void for the coming year.” Harringtons did not confirm which properties they were referring to.

However, they also said that “we have one landlord who has asked us to aggressively discount his last two houses.”

Harringtons has over 60 properties remaining on the market for 2024/25. Whilst some prices are unchanged, the average weekly rent is now under £140 per person, or £163.60 for properties with bills included.

Frampton & Roebuck have also decreased the prices of some of their properties significantly, with the average weekly rent decreasing from £186.17 in October 2023 to £132.24 in September 2024. 

For example, 9 Mayorswell Field, a Frampton & Roebuck property, has gone from £170 pppw with bills in October 2023, to £135 with bills in February 2024, to £105 with bills in September 2024.

Another Frampton & Roebuck property, 10 Flass Street, went from £175 excluding bills in February 2024, to £105 including bills in September 2024, a price reduction of around 50% when bills are taken into account. Flass Street in particular has seen significant price reductions on 3 more of its properties, 15a Flass Street, 16 Flass Street, and 17 Flass Street. All of these properties are managed by Frampton & Roebuck, excluding 17 Flass Street, which is let out through Harringtons.

Whilst the past two years have been marked by long, sometimes overnight, queues outside housing agents, more houses remain on the market for 2024/25. Durham Students’ Union President Dan Lonsdale reiterated this in a recent statement, saying “I want to reassure all students that there remains no need to rush for housing for the next academic year.”

“There are enough houses available, along with a significant surplus, to accommodate every student in the city,” Mr Lonsdale said.

Image: Seana Barrett