Figures Still Stack for Landlords

There is still confidence in the buy to let market in the UK despite the US crisis.

The buy to let market is becoming a more and more important part of the housing market with an ever growing number of tenants, for one reason or the other, who do not want to own a property. Many young people are remaining in rented accommodation for longer nowadays.

Some investors are waiting to see how the interest rate will affect the market but rent rises are helping those landlords having higher borrowing costs.

Lenders are likely to become more stringent with buy to let funding especially for sub-prime properties.

Investors about to become landlords should be careful as buy to let is now only for long term investors. They should consider where to buy property and keep it in good condition. With the rental yields falling it is possible investors will have to have bigger deposits in order to meet repayments.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders stated that 171,800 buy to let properties were purchased in the first six months of 2007 this was down 3% from the six months previous.

The buy to let sector is helping to bridge the gap between owner occupation and provisions for social housing.

The buy to let index published in July showed rental yields as 5.5% for the past year.