The Property Podcast

Whatever the national rent headline says this month, there's a good chance it isn't describing everything...

Rob & Rob are joined by Richard Donnell, Executive Director of Research at Zoopla, who tracks what 9 million monthly users do on the site and how landlords and agents set rents in real time.

He takes them through what's driving the gap between one town and the next, and why the case for owning rental property looks nothing like it did 10 years ago. There's also a free tool to check what your own property should be letting for.

(02:30) The number that took everyone by surprise, and why it has completely reversed

(04:47) Where rents are climbing fastest right now, and what those markets have in common

(10:01) Does the data prove the Renters' Rights Act has pushed advertised rents up?

(14:49) Why huge demand for rented homes in London still isn't pushing rents up much

(17:51) Why the reason for owning rental property has flipped since the tax changes

(22:56) Richard's call on rents over the next 12 months

(24:58) Hub Extra

Links mentioned:

Zoopla's rental estimate calculator

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What would you do differently if you were buying your first buy-to-let today? And can you get a mortgage on a property you're planning to rent to a family member?

Your questions answered on this week's episode of Ask Rob & Rob.

(00:48) Anya is renovating her own home and plans to put the equity into her first buy-to-let, but she's hesitant about taking the plunge. How do you buy with confidence when it's your first? Rob B sets out what he'd put in place to take the guesswork out of it.

(03:59) Sarah's second buy-to-let stacks up on paper, but she wants to rent it to a family member and has been told no lender will touch it. Is that right, and does buying in her own name solve it? Rob D explains what changes when a let is regulated, and what that does to the terms on offer.

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Bond markets are under pressure across the UK, the US and much of the world. That sounds like a problem for economists, but it has a direct impact on your mortgage...

Rob & Rob explain what's pushing government borrowing costs up, and why that's already showing up in swap rates and lender pricing.

With the October Budget on the horizon, fresh data on prices and rents, as well as a striking number on where professional investors are putting their money - there's a lot here that could change the maths on your next purchase.

(00:56) The bond market is moving, here's why that matters more than the Bank of England rate

(04:30) Swap rates at their highest. What that means for your borrowing costs

(05:22) The first lender has already repriced, so why moving fast on paperwork pays

(08:14) The Budget lands in October, and the tax Rob D thinks is most exposed

(11:57) House price growth looks flat, but the real-terms picture is very different

(13:22) Rents up year on year, outpacing both inflation and house price growth

(13:53) Why the number of professional investors who plan to buy in the next 12 months surprised Rob B

(17:00) What England should read into rented homes in Wales

(18:25) Hub Extra

Links mentioned:

Bank of England holds at 3.75%

NRLA: Budget 2026, what we know so far

Ultra concentrated coffee in a can

House prices:

Nationwide's House Price Index

Lloyds' House Price Index

Mortgages and lending:

Landlord mortgage rates fall across lenders

Lender cuts buy-to-let rates to woo landlords

Fewer buy-to-let applications

Rents:

ONS private rent and house prices

London landlords' latest tactic: inverse bidding wars

Landlord behaviour:

Buy-to-let costs soar twice as fast as rental income

Just 5% of Welsh landlords control a third of rental homes

Handelsbanken Property Investor Report

Investors missing the older-renter opportunity

Planning and supply:

HBF: Planning on Empty 2026

Centre for Cities: building near stations

Regulation:

Renters demand rent and eviction data in the PRS Database

Short-let landlord register coming soon

NRLA warns of risk of unqualified agents

UK CertifID trust mark for digital ID

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What do you do when a holiday let won't sell and keeps bleeding money every month? And when a new landlord inherits a rent set well below market value, how much of that gap can be closed, and how fast?

Rob & Rob tackle both questions on this Tuesday's Ask Rob & Rob.

(00:50) Stephanie's last remaining holiday let is losing money every month as mortgage rates bite, and it's been on the market for over a year. Is there anything left to try before covering the shortfall out of her own pocket this winter? Rob B runs through the options worth exploring.

(05:36) Mark's buying his first tenanted buy-to-let, and the rent is about to rise by just 5%, to £730, which is a lot cheaper than others in the same area. Once he's able to change it, is it better to jump straight to market value or build up slowly? Rob D explains why neither option is as simple as it sounds.

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Warren Buffett has never invested in property in his life. That doesn't mean his rulebook can't tell you if it’s worth investing right now...

Rob & Rob borrow the value investor's toolkit, the same one that made Buffett one of the richest people alive, and run UK property through it from first principles.

They build a fair value model using bond yields, price-to-income ratios and the cost of building from scratch, then compare it against what property is trading for today. The numbers say something most headlines aren't telling you.

(00:48) News story of the week

(03:25) How Warren Buffett's approach to picking shares translates almost perfectly to buying a house

(06:53) How to calculate what UK property should really be yielding

(10:30) Two completely different lenses for valuing property, and they both point in the same direction

(16:19) The one advantage property investors have that Warren Buffett doesn't

(21:08) Why Rob & Rob don't want a property boom right now, even though it would boost their own numbers

(22:54) Hub Extra

Links mentioned:

Commuter growth peaks in the north

The Invite

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