The National Landlords Association (NLA), the leading representative body for landlords in the UK, has dismissed claims that buy-to-let is dead.
Following the nationalisation of the mortgage business of Bradford & Bingley, there have been a number of commentators quick to support the view that buy-to-let, as a concept, has come off the rails.
For a wide range of reasons, the NLA believes this is fundamentally not the case:
Only 25 to 30 per cent of landlords actually use buy-to-let mortgages to finance their property purchases. This leaves a large number of private landlords untouched by the situation at Bradford & Bingley.
With EU expansion and globalisation, immigration continues to rise. This further pushes demand for rental accommodation. An increasingly mobile workforce is also a key factor.
Student population is growing with over 2.5 million students now in university education and, for the most part, requiring rental accommodation.
There are more households owing to divorce, later marriage and other lifestyle factors. This means more people renting for longer.
The majority of landlords are motivated by long term objectives holding on to property for around 15 years. It is highly unlikely that rental demand would reduce in a downturn.
Next to no increase in social housing provision means families increasingly look to the private-rented sector for housing solutions.
"It is simply not true that the nation's landlords are now facing some sort of crisis. For the cautious and mature investor who has bought the right property in the right location, they will be seeing an increase in rents and can expect demand to keep climbing. This kind of market is not for the feint-hearted and the landlords who may be struggling may well be the more recent entrants with more highly geared portfolios."
"We want to make sure that homeowners are aware that they could be left underinsured or even invalidate their insurance entirely in the event of an incident during or after the works if they have not informed their insurer first."
On a regional basis, rear extensions are most popular in Greater London with 364,000 homeowners planning to carry one out within this time period. Loft or roof conversions are planned by more people in the North West (260,000) than anywhere else.
Date: 1st, October, 2008
Author: Ben Wilkie
ADVICE TO READERS
While this website is checked for accuracy, we are not liable for any incorrect information included. We recommend that you make enquiries based on your own circumstances and, if necessary, take professional advice before entering into transactions.
Enter your postcode here to find out how much your property is worth, based on Land Registry data.
Enter the following information to calculate the amount you can borrow.
First Income: |
|
Second Income: |
|
RSS Feed
Delicious
Digg
reddit
Facebook
StumbleUpon