The average annual void period has dropped to its lowest level since 2002, according to new research conducted by Paragon Mortgages.

The lender has surveyed a panel of landlord customers for 13 years, and the average void period (the length of time between rental property tenancies) reported in the first quarter of this year – 2.4 weeks – is the lowest since the survey began.

In the last quarter of 2014 the average void period was 2.6 weeks, and comparing the first quarter of this year against the first quarter of 2014, the length of time a landlord has experienced a void has fallen by 14% from 2.8 weeks.

Landlords have been reporting low or falling void periods since 2013, with only a slight fluctuation in mid-2013 when the average climbed marginally to three weeks.

John Heron (pictured), Paragon’s director of mortgages, said: “Void periods have been consistently low for some time, which is not unexpected when you also look at what landlords are telling us about the level of demand from tenants.

“In our survey for the first quarter of 2015, 42% of landlords said in their view tenant demand was either growing or booming and 54% felt demand was stable.

“The housing market is currently experiencing a shift, with more people choosing to live in the private rented sector. This is supported by the figures released this month by the English Housing Survey which show 4.4 million households are now privately rented, compared with 3.9 million households in the social rented sector. This change in housing dynamics appears to be a continuing and long-term trend.”