This has increased dramatically from just 23% in the West One Broker Sentiment Survey in August 2012.
 
Duncan Kreeger, director at peer-to-peer bridging lender West One Loans said, “A generation of renters are demanding somewhere to live – and a growing army of landlords need loans to make the required investments.  The latest sky-high rental figures demonstrate that hunger for more investment.  But cash-strapped banks are still hesitant to make a serious commitment.  The supposed upturn in traditional lending isn’t meeting this need.  And unless someone is willing to put their money where their mouth is, that won’t change.  That’s Continue reading →

In the last 12 months, the proportion of landlords refinancing Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO) has jumped from 55% in Q4 2011 to 80% in Q4 2012. Similarly, remortgaging on Multi-Unit Freehold Blocks (MUFB) has increased from 76% to 78% year on year. 

In particular, investors have been remortgaging lower value HMO property, which has reduced the average loan size on HMOs compared to 12 months ago.

David Whittaker, managing director of Mortgages for Business explains: “Gross yields on buy to let property are particularly attractive at the moment thanks to the mess which the first-time buyer market finds itself in. Property prices Continue reading →

High gross yields on residential property – which currently stand at 6.7% – are encouraging landlords to expand their portfolios even further. Of those investors who intend to expand their portfolios this year, almost nine in ten (88%) plan on buying more residential property.

Investment in complex property was less popular, although more landlords plan to purchase Houses in Multiple Occupation (26%) and Multi-Unit Freehold Blocks (16%). Less investors plan to buy semi-commercial property (11%) and commercial property (7%).

Encouragingly, just 6% of landlords say they are planning to trim their portfolios over the next six months, the same proportion as six months Continue reading →

John Bagshaw, Corporate Services Director of Connells Survey & Valuation, comments: “November was far from a stellar month for the mortgage market by historic standards, but valuations activity saw annual growth for a second successive month. The seasonal monthly drift down we’d expect at this point in the year has been less pronounced than in previous years – although success has been confined to certain parts of the valuations market, with buy-to-let a star performer.”
 
New buy-to-let valuations were central to the strength of November’s figures, with a 14% rise in activity in the sector compared to October, leaving buy-to-let Continue reading →

Yields on vanilla buy to let increased from 6.1% to 6.7% over the quarter, thanks largely to the average property value of vanilla investments falling by 3% between Q2 and Q3 to £210,197. This helped push up the average LTV up from 64% to 68%, with lenders more willing to grant higher LTV deals thanks to lower property prices.

Similarly, Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) saw yields jump from 9.2% in Q2 to 11.1% in Q3. This was triggered by a sharp increase in refinancing of cheaper HMO property, as these lower value properties tend to have a higher yield than more Continue reading →

Professional landlords are more likely than their smaller-scale peers to purchase further rental property, 20% compared to 6%.

Terraced houses have remained a popular investment option. However, this quarter has seen the popularity of flats and maisonettes, semi-detached and detached houses rise to their highest level yet this year.

Types of property landlords plan to invest in during Q4:

* Flats/maisonettes – 58%;
* Terraced houses – 58%;
* Semi-detached houses – 30%;
* Detached houses – 21%;
* Bungalows – 9%;
* Multi-unit blocks – 9%;
* HMOs – 6%

John Heron, Managing Director of Paragon Mortgages, said: "It is very encouraging to see Continue reading →

Six months later, that number has fallen to 81%. At the same time, the number of brokers who are unsure of the market has doubled, from 5% in February, to 10% in August.

Duncan Kreeger, chairman of West One Loans said, “While there has been a fall in the number of brokers who are certain investors should expand their portfolios, the change is small – and 81% of brokers are still confident it’s a good time to invest in the sector.  Furthermore, the number of brokers who think it’s definitely not a good time to pile into the market has fallen to Continue reading →

Regionally, rental yields vary with the highest returns in the North (7.0%) and the lowest in London (4.8%). The North is followed by the North West, Yorkshire and the Humber (both 6.5%) and Wales (6.2%). The lowest yields are all in southern England, with East Anglia, South East and the South West all recording returns of just over 5%.

Nationally, the average monthly rent increased from £697 per month (pm) in June 2011 to £734 pm in June 2012; a rise of 5.3%.

However, there has been significant variation in rental growth between regions over the last year. The biggest increase came in London with average monthly Continue reading →

However to the untrained property magnate, it can be fraught with pit-falls and Steven shares his top ten tips to successfully get into property rental in Edinburgh.
 
1. Location – research your market. While it’s always exciting to uncover that new up and coming area, in this unpredictable economic climate sourcing quality residential investment, in established areas with a track record, can prove to be a sensible way to go.
 
2. Shop around for mortgage deal – depending on the scale of your investment, the mortgage offers will vary, so use a recognised mortgage broker to provide advice and Continue reading →

Encouragingly, only 3% of investors are planning to reduce their portfolios over the next six months, down from 6% last quarter.

David Whittaker, managing director at Mortgages for Business, explained: “Landlord appetite for buying residential property is high. This will support the private rented sector and ease the strain on would be renters chasing too few properties.”

The research, which polled the views of 159 investors, showed complex buy to let property is becoming increasingly popular probably due to the more attractive yields compared to vanilla buy to let properties. 25% of respondents said that they were considering purchasing either HMOs, multi-units or Continue reading →