Mortgage industry positive on buy-to-let.

The strong demographic factors underlying buy-to-let are boosting the market, it has been claimed.

Group chief executive of Bradford & Bingley Steven Crawshaw said that among the factors supporting the private rental market are increased immigration, greater job mobility, growth in the number of households and a rise in the student population.

His comments come after a new report from research firm Mintel predicted that the number of landlords in the UK is set to double by 2010, while sales of new buy-to-let mortgages are forecast to grow by 53 per cent on this year's figures by 2011.

Mortgage sales director at GE Money Home Lending Duncan Berry said that the Mintel figures were good news for the market.

"Not only is buy-to-let continuing to outperform the market as a whole, but, with increasing demand, rising rents and a greater desire to invest in bricks and mortar, it looks set to remain a growing area in the future," he stated.

Earlier research from the firm found that three-quarters of mortgage brokers say that buy-to-let will be the most important growth opportunity for them in 2007.

Steady Swansea price rises attract investors

Swansea has been the focus of large amounts of investment and steady house price rises in recent years, a property market expert has claimed.

The Welsh city saw house prices averaging £55,000 in 2000, but the typical price is now £127,000, with values growing by around ten per cent a year, according to figures from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

According to Terry Carr, director of Wales-based estate agency John Francis, the most up-and-coming area of the city is the waterfront and old docklands area, which is seeing lots of new development, including restaurants and commercial offices.

He said that properties in the city were being bought by a mixture of buyers, including those who are from the area but move away for their career before returning to settle in Swansea, or to buy second homes there.

"There's also quite a strong investor business in the waterfront where investor clubs have bought and they're either letting or trying to make a profit," he commented. "So it's quite active in all sectors really."

House price growth in Wales stood at 4.9 per cent in the first quarter of 2007, according to Halifax figures, above the UK average of 2.8 per cent.

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