Demand for rental properties in the UK’s major cities fell by 15.3% on a quarterly basis at the end of 2021, says Barrows and Forrester.

The estate and lettings agent details demand averaging 27.6% in the fourth quarter of 2021 and rising by 0.4% overall annually.

These scores are taken by looking at properties already let as a percentage of all rental listings in each major conurbation.

This calculation shows that demand fell by 44.9% in Cardiff, by 39.8% in Bristol, and by 29.9% in Bournemouth on a quarterly basis.

The best performers by this metric were Belfast, at 0%, London, where demand fell by just 0.1%, and in Liverpool, which saw demand decay by 5.3%.

On an annual basis, demand Cambridge grew by 30.5%, in Edinburgh by 15.1% and in Manchester by 12.3%.

And in Newport, demand annually dropped 19%, by 17.8% in Belfast and by 8.5% in both Plymouth and Bournemouth.

Barrows and Forrester managing director James Forrester says: “Just as the UK rental market was starting to find its feet after a very difficult period, the pandemic is once again causing dark clouds of uncertainty to gather and we find ourselves back where we were at the end of 2020.

“We saw the detrimental impact workplace restrictions has had on city rental demand during the initial Covid-19 outbreak and so this is no doubt a contributing factor with the spread of the Omicron variant.

“There is, of course, a seasonal element to this decline and so there is a very good chance that now the festive period has ended demand will start to lift once again and with the government’s ambitious booster jab rollout, we should hopefully return to normality at a far quicker pace this time around.”