The Buy To Let Market

The buy to let market is very buoyant at the moment with an increase of 14% seen since this time last year.

Buy to let investors now account for 10% of mortgages, a large rise since 5yrs ago when only 3% of mortgages went to buy to let investors.

More and more people are using buy to let as a pension scheme, a business or a way of helping children get on to the property ladder.

There will always be a need for rented accommodation as long as demand is greater than supply in the sales market. Also affecting the rental market are first time buyers who, with the interest rates high and the large income multiples needed to acquire a mortgage, are continuing to rent property as opposed to buying at the present time.

With rising rents, less empty periods and the continual demand for rental accommodation buy to let arrears remain very low.

University cities, buy to let havens, have seen average property prices rise on average 20% over the past year.

ALSO, Rents have gone up 5% over past year but its over the last three months that most of the rise has taken place.

Landlords have managed to increase rents and yields have remained around 6% over the year.

Landlords are in a great position as they have no property to sell and seem to be able to negotiate a good price that is generally better than residential buyers. They are also able to find good cheaper property in areas that are about to become popular as opposed to being already a trendy place.