Rent controls in Bristol are currently being considered by Bristol City Council, This is not a new idea as it has been used in other countries in Europe. It is interesting to see the impacts of such controls on the market and the results. 

The rental controls that were introduced in Berlin have now been in place for over a year and interestingly the data shows that there was a reduction of 30% for new flats on the market.  It also has data that for each new listing on the market had an average of 214 people answering each rental advert in January 2021, compared to 128 in the same month last year. 

Landlord pros: 

1. Increased demand for available units by almost 100%, so greater choice of tenants.

Tenant pros:

1. Slightly reduced monthly rental, on average by 7.8%

Landlord cons:

1. Reduced rental and control of what rent can be charged

Tenant cons:

1. Increase in demand by almost 100%, so even greater trouble finding a suitable home

2. Reduced choice of properties on the market by 30%  

Data is from property ad portal ImmoScout24. In other blog posts we will look at the other areas in Europe that have rent controls and how this may effect Bristol’s property market.