Rents Rising At
Fastest Rate As UK net migration SOARS to all-time record 504,000
UK net migration reached
a record 504,000 in the year to June, The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reports.
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At the same time,
the ONS also reports that rents are rising by the fastest rate since records
began, despite a slowdown in property sales.
Rents in the private sector have increased by 3.8pc in the
12 months to October 2022 - the biggest annual percentage change since records
began in January 2016, according to the ONS rent inflation index.
Across the country, rents rose by the largest annual
percentage increase recorded in the East Midlands - up 4.8pc.
London recorded the lowest percentage rise at 3pc, but was
still the biggest increase in rents in the capital since July 2016, and based
on much higher base rental values.
The median monthly rent was £795 for England, the ONS said.
Rents have been rising following a fall in 2021, largely
due to lower demand for rental properties as employees abandoned cities to work
from home.
Rental prices have been fuelled by a chronic shortage
in available properties and increased demand as workers return to offices and
immigration continues rising.
Immigration
The massive
increase in net migration is due to people arriving legally from outside the EU,
students and the international travel. The arrival of Afghan and Ukrainian
refugees and people from Hong Kong added to the figures.
The government has
tried to slash net migration - the difference between the numbers entering and
leaving the UK – and control immigration in the post-Brexit era.
The former prime
minister David Cameron and Theresa May frequently missed the government target
to cut net migration to below 100,000. But Boris Johnson dropped the target in
favour of ensuring businesses had access to the skills and workers they needed.
Home Secretary
Suella Braverman, who wants to revive the ill-fated target, said the record
numbers were "understandable" given the circumstances in Ukraine,
Afghanistan and Hong Kong, and the "generosity of the British
people".
"But the
public rightly expect us to control our borders and we remain committed to
reducing migration over time," she said.
Ms Braverman pointed
out that the current level of migration was putting pressure on accommodation
and housing supply, as well as health, education and other public services.
Business demand
more migrants
However, business
leaders have called for higher immigration to boost growth and fill millions of
job vacancies in the UK.
The number of recorded Asylum applications which includes
illegal migrants trafficked in small boats across the English Channel, hit
73,000 in the year to September, around 15% of all those who arrive in the
country in any given period.
Migration figures reveal that a large numbers coming here
from outside the European Union - 170,000 from Ukraine and 76,000 from Hong
Kong under a scheme to resettle people who count as British citizens.
International students
Included in the net migration figures, 277,000 overseas
students came to the UK study, double the number of student visas from the
previous year – possibly influenced by the lifting of travel restrictions, according to the ONS.
Madeleine Sumption,
director of Oxford University's politically independent Migration Observatory
research unit, told the BBC: "All the forecasts suggested that migration
would fall as a result of the post-Brexit immigration scheme, which greatly
restricted the options for EU citizens to move to the UK - and indeed, EU net
migration remains negative.
"But non-EU
migration has risen, primarily not because of the policies designed to replace
EU free movement.
"The
humanitarian routes for Ukraine and Hong Kong and a rebound in international
students have played the largest role in boosting immigration levels.
"These
unusually high levels of net migration result from a unique set of
circumstances following the war in Ukraine and the recovery from the Covid-19
crisis.
"We cannot
assume they represent a 'new normal', and it would be rash to take major policy
decisions based only on these numbers."
Students add
billions to the UK economy and should not be considered as ‘migrants’ until
such time as they choose to apply for longer term residency or a working visa.
Asylum
Separate figures
published by the Home Office reveal that a record 143,000 people are now
awaiting an outcome on their asylum claim, thanks to delays to decision-making.
Around 41,000 of
them have been waiting for between one and three years for a decision,
according to separate research.
In one example of
delays, new figures show that just 50 of 7,219 Albanians who arrived by small
boats have received a decision on their claim for asylum.
The increase in
immigration coincides with soaring rents at a time when the property sales
market has slowed and thousands of
landlords quit the buy-to-let property market - https://youtu.be/NME3nEu8dAQ
Nationwide
providers like Serco have earned millions housing asylum seekers and will work
with private landlords.
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