Rightmove has revealed that 16% of properties currently for sale were previously available on the rental market, a figure which is up from 13% before the pandemic.

The portal, in its latest rental market snapshot, says a sentiment survey it has conducted shows that landlords are currently facing challenges from multiple directions. Government sentiment towards the industry, rising taxation and increasing compliance requirements topped the list of landlords’ concerns in a recent study by Rightmove. A quarter are also concerned about the rising cost of buy-to-let mortgages.

The data suggests landlords are particularly concerned about their properties with a lower EPC rating, ahead of proposed changes to EPC requirements from the government. Precisely 33% of landlords who own lower EPC rated properties plan to sell them rather than make improvements to their EPC rating, compared with 20% who planned to sell last year.

However, despite these challenges, landlords value having a good tenant in their home and are determined to keep good tenants for longer. The majority (57%) of landlords say that on average, tenants choose to stay in their properties for longer than 24 months, with only 8% saying they stay for a year or less.