Property expert: Landlords confident about expanding portfolios
Posted by Sue Hopson
Landlords are increasingly looking to invest in buy-to-let properties and expand their portfolios, a property expert has claimed.
According to David Lawrenson, buy-to-let author and owner of consultancy LettingFocus.com, rising rents mean that many landlords are feeling confident about making new investments.
"Most reports that I have seen indicate that landlords are quite confident about expanding their portfolios," he said.
"On the whole, landlords know what they are doing and they are quite confident moving forward and the rising rents that we are seeing will only make them more so."
Investment property London could be in particularly high demand, with Mr Lawrenson explaining that, despite the government's attempts to increase house-building, there is still a lack of property in the capital, which is pushing up rents.
"One of the reasons why rents are going up so strongly is because house prices are still holding up in London and we have a lack of new house building to meet the increase in the burgeoning population that we have," he said.
Another advantage of increased demand for rental property is that landlords can afford to be more picky when it comes to choosing tenants.
This means they can select those with the best rental histories and that they believe are likely to treat the property well and keep up with rental payments.
However, Mr Lawrenson warned against setting rents too high, as this may price many tenants out of the market.
"Landlords can be to some extent picky, but they have to get the pricing right. There is a danger that landlords will be too greedy, price too high and then they don't get a lot of people after their properties, so they are not able to be picky," he commented.
"They would have to price it realistically and then they can choose from good quality tenants."
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