LONDON - Buy-to-let landlords in Britain are continuing to demonstrate keen faith in the housing market even as demand for rental property soared in the third quarter. These findings are contained in the latest buy-to-let confidence survey by Mortgage Express, the specialist-lending arm of Bradford & Bingley.
The report which was released yesterday says that 87 percent of the respondents in the survey were either going to expand their portfolio or maintain it as it was over the next six months. 81 percent of landlords surveyed admitted that the demand for the rental property was either increasing or remaining at the same level as before. This is an increase of 3 percent over the last quarter. 91 percent landlords agreed that over the last six months, the rents had increased or stayed at the same level.
Also 73 percent of respondents said that they had not experienced any voids over the past 6 months. This figure is up from the 71 percent recorded in the last quarter. Out of those people who did experience voids, 35 percent said that they were less than four weeks, while 87 percent expected it to either decrease or remain the same in the next half-year.
Mortgage Express also revealed that the most popular buy-to-let investment area remained the South with 58 percent admitting that it was their favored place. It was followed by Wales and the Midlands at 26 percent and Scotland and the North at 21 percent.
"It's encouraging to note that our borrowers believe that demand for rental properties remains strong. This point is reflected in our own economic analysis which shows increased demand for buy-to-let loans in general," said Andrew Moss, product development manager at Mortgage Express.
"Recently lower interest rates have also helped boost the sector. Looking ahead to 2006, the A-Day pension changes should also further help strengthen the market even further."
Posted
on : Mon, 31 Oct 2005 08:40 GMT | Investments News
By : Salim Patel
|
