Lack of confidence in the job market and economic outlook is causing tenants to leave house hunting until the last minute, according to one agent.

Maria Lucas, of Banbury-based Lets Lucas, said: “People are leaving it later and later to start looking for a property to rent.

“People say things to us like ‘I’ve known I was starting a new job next week for the last two months but they might have withdrawn the offer so I didn’t want to do anything about it until now’.

“Then, they want to move very, very quickly.

“We had someone who cleared all the checks and went from looking to signing a contact in just three days.”

Jane Foster, of St Clement’s-based letting agents College and County, said: “Tenants do not want to overlap so they end up paying rent on two places at the same time, so will leave it until the last possible moment to move.

“They used to be quite relaxed about it but now that money is tighter, it is more of an issue.

“But although they won’t make a decision about a property until the last minute, they spend longer shopping around, doing their homework on areas and prices.”

Laura Stafford, at the East Oxford branch of Scottfraser, added: “We’ve had a few people come in recently who want a property to move into that day, which is never going to happen.

“There have always been people who leave things very late but it is happening more now.”