Students queue in street to rent

Posted: 11 Dec 2008 11:17:35 GMT

Students in Oxford have begun queuing overnight outside estate agents, despite sub-zero temperatures, in order to secure a rental property, it has been reported.

The current economic crisis has had such an effect on the housing market that the rental sector is now booming as buyers desert the private property sector.

And it appears that in Oxford, the rental market is in fact so overwhelmed with new tenants that traditional pillars of the market - students - are having to resort to queueing overnight in the street to secure a home.

The associate director of local estate agent Finders Keepers, Simon Tyrell, told the BBC that he would never have guessed that he would see so many people at his door when he arrived to open up yesterday (December 10th).

"We were really surprised to see so many - especially at this time of the year.

"An air of panic has come into the market as [student] properties are so bad people are willing to go that extra mile."

As people desert the housing market it may become more difficult to sell a property, but selling a property online could fetch higher offers, as more buyers would see a home on a website than in an estate agent's window.

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