ERA/IRN RentalTracker Q1 2021‎ – A Complicated Recovery

The ERA/IRN RentalTracker survey undertaken at the end of the first quarter of 2021 reveals a rental industry in recovery mode and expressing a generally positive outlook, but complicated by the continuing impact of the pandemic.

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The overall picture is positive. More than 145 responses to the survey – the largest number since late 2013 – highlighted improving conditions, with a 30% positive balance on ‘conditions now’ at the end of March 2021. The balance is calculated as the difference between the proportions expressing positive and negative views.

Forecasts for 12 months ahead are also at high levels, with a positive balance of opinion of 63%, the highest since the start of 2018 and much higher even than at the end of the third quarter of last year, when there might have been good cause for a positive outlook (‘things can only get better’). Some 70% of respondents are expecting improved business conditions 12 months from now, and only 7% are expecting a decline.

Likewise, time utilisation levels were reported to be improving at the end of the first quarter of 2021, with a positive balance of opinion of 39%, showing a marked improvement from both surveys in 2020 when rates were – not surprisingly – reducing.

The health crisis means that countries in Europe are experiencing widely diverging environments, with some emerging from a third wave of infections while others contemplate further lockdowns. In addition, there are quite different ‘base levels’ of activity, related to the differing impacts of COVID last year.

Read the full report here.