56.4% of Aylesbury Tenants are White Collar Middle Class

Renting is not like it was in the 1960’s and 70’s, where tenants could not wait to leave their landlords, charging sky-high rents for properties with Second World War wood chip wallpaper, no central heating and drafty windows. Since 1997 with the introduction of buy to let mortgages and a new breed of Aylesbury landlord, the private rented sector in Aylesbury has offered increasingly high quality accommodation for younger Aylesbury households.

So whilst I knew in my own mind that the type and class of tenant has improved over the last 20 years, I had nothing to back that up . According to some detailed statistics from Durham University just released, for the Aylesbury Vale District Council area, the current situation regarding social status of tenants shows some very interesting points. Using the  Demographic ABC1 grade classifications which refer to the social grade definitions (which describe, measure and classify people of different social grade and income and earnings levels, for market research, social commentary, lifestyle statistics, and statistical research and analysis) this is what I found out. 

Of the 13,984 tenants who live in a private rented property in the AVDC area, 23.0% (or 3,217) of those tenants are classified in the AB category (AB Category being Higher and intermediate managerial / administrative / professional occupations), compared to 32.48% owner occupiers who own their property without a mortgage or 5.28% who rent their property from the local authority.

Looking at the C1’s (C1’s being the Supervisory, clerical and junior managerial / administrative / professional occupations), of the already mentioned 13,948 tenants in the area, an impressive 4,670 of them are considered to be in the C1 category (or 33.40%). Again, when compared with the owner occupiers who own their property without a mortgage, that figure stands at 31.03%   and 17.95% who rent their property from the local authority.  So, if we use the conventional measurements recorded by the white-collar “ABC1” i.e. middle class ….

 

This means 56.40% of tenants are considered middle class in Aylesbury  

I could go through all of the social categories through to ‘E’, but I do not want to bore you with too many numbers. The fact is that private tenants are moving up the social ladder and whilst back in the 1960’s and 70’s, the private rented sector in Aylesbury (and the rest of the UK) had been viewed as a temporary tenure for 20 somethings before they bought a property, the increase in renting in Aylesbury, which I have talked about many times in the Aylesbury Property Market Blog may be a reflection of increasing difficulty for this group in accessing other tenures, but may also be a reflection that people now choose to rent long term instead? 

Aylesbury Landlords need to be aware that tenants now demand more from their properties, the agent and their landlord and whilst affordability for first-time buyers and tighter controls on lending may mean that potential first-time buyers are in the private rented sector for longer, they will still pay ‘top dollar’ rent for a ‘top dollar’ property.

It is however essential for any landlord to be aware what 'top dollar' rent actually is. Overpricing your rental property can seriously damage your wealth. ian@mortimersaylesbury.co.uk

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