Third of buy-to-let landlords optimistic about tenant demand
11-16-2014
By Damian Fantato
Buy-to-let investors are expecting high levels of demand, John Heron, director of mortgages at Paragon, has said.
Mr Heron explained: “The past quarter has been a stable and steady one, with just over a third of landlords saying they feel more optimistic about the prospects for their rental portfolios.
“Current thinking is that gross buy-to-let lending this year will be around the £25bn mark, which represents a healthy increase over 2013 – but there has been some evidence that the rate of growth has slowed as the year has progressed.”
The Private Rented Sector Trends survey, carried out by Paragon Mortgages, showed 41 per cent of landlords said tenant demand is either growing or booming.
Just 2 per cent of landlords said tenant demand declined in the last quarter.
The survey also showed that 61 per cent of landlords said they expected the level of tenant arrears to remain stable over the next 12 months.
In the latest data for the second quarter 27,700 tenants faced a court order for eviction – down by 16 per cent, compared to just three months earlier when the number of tenants potentially facing eviction stood at 33,000.
Adviser view
Richard Todd, of RHT Financial Services, said: “There is quite a high demand for buy-to-let at the moment.
“We tend to get more buy-to-let enquiries than we do for standard mortgages. People generally go to the building society for those and come to us if it’s more complex.”