Landlords Expanding Buy To Let Portfolios

Quarterly Private Rented Sector Trends Survey Report Looks Into Buy To Let

Buy To Let Survey Results

Research carried out by Paragon Mortgages was recently published and reported that landlords have been adding to their buy to let portfolios and are planning to add to them further in the rest of the year.

In the first quarter of 2012 a landlord had on average 12.9 properties in their buy to let portfolio. This has seen an increase in the second quarter, rising to an average figure of 13.1 properties.

Of all the respondents to the Private Rented Sector Trends Survey, 21% are also planning to expand their portfolios and invest further into the buy to let industry into the third quarter of the year.  Of this 21% almost half of them (49%) are planning to purchase terraced properties over any other type of housing.

Why are landlords expanding their Buy To Let portfolios? 

44% of landlords who responded to the survey reported that tenant demand is growing with 53% of respondents expecting that demand will continue to increase over the next twelve months.

The Private Rented Sector Trends Survey also reports that the average void period is now only 2.6 weeks per year and that landlords are enjoying average yields of 6.2% encouraging them to continue investing into buy to let property.

What does the report spell out for the future of Buy To Let?

Looking back at the figures from 2011, the second quarter showed an average of 12.5 properties in a landlord's portfolio which shows an average increase of 0.7, cementing the belief that buy to let is not suffering in the recession.

John Heron, managing director of the Paragon Mortgage company who complied the report said "The fact that landlords are planning to make further investments in their property portfolios is positive news. It shows their appetite to grow their business to meet the on-going demands from tenants and demonstrates the viability of the UK's Private Rented Sector".