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19th October 2011

Buy-to-let, a 'relatively profitable and secure investment'

An increasing number of people may be likely to think about becoming a landlord with national reports of rising rents.
According to David Lawrenson, private rented sector expert at buy-to-let advice service LettingFocus.com, renting out your house or investing in a property to place on the lettings market is likely to provide a good return in the current economic climate.
"There is still a deep, strong, continuing tenant demand coming through," he said.
"The rising rents at the moment are probably making more people enter the market as landlords. As rents go up, it continues to be a relatively profitable and secure investment for landlords."
Mr Lawrenson's comments followed a report from housing charity Shelter claimed that demand for rented property is outstripping supply, leading to rising rents.
It found that average private rents are beyond the means of 'ordinary' families in 55 per cent of local authorities.
This led the Residential Landlords Association to call for the government to introduce tax incentives to encourage more people to invest in buy-to-let.
However, Mr Lawrenson argued that rising rents alone should be enough to encourage people to enter the landlord business, or for current landlords to expand their portfolios.
"I don't see why we would be running out of capacity even though there is strong tenant demand. You would expect to see rising tenant demand in the current economic environment because people are reluctant to take on the responsibility of a mortgage - assuming they can get one" he said.
"People are concerned about their job security and whether they would be able to manage that mortgage commitment."
Whilst buying to let in Oxford and investment property in London could prove to be especially popular for those looking to buy rental properties, with the Shelter study revealing that these are the two areas where average rents are highest, here in the Lancaster area we still see consistent strong tenant demand.