Buy-to-let is here to stay

Recent research by Alliance & Leicester Mortgages show renewed confidence in the buy-to-let market with 29% of respondents planning to stay in the market indefinitely.

The prospect of continued rising interest rates does not dampen their enthusiasm with 38% saying they would just raise rents and 32% saying they wouldn’t do anything at all. The figures reveal that only 2% may consider selling some or all of their letting properties due to interest rates.

The research also shows that 78% of landlords are confident they will get strong capital gains and more than 68% think rental yields will produce good returns.

Alliance & Leicester believe that the buy-to-let market is still a lucrative venture for the majority of landlords, with 25% of them admitting this is their main means of income. For the 44% of them who say it is not their main means of income at the present time, they would not rule out the possibility of it being so in the future.

Whilst comparing letting income against letting costs, 71% of respondents say they make a profit. The other 29% either break even or experience a slight loss. In fact no landlord in the research reported huge losses, but 6% did report ‘small deficits’.

An Alliance & Leicester Mortgage spokesperson says that this research paints a very rosy picture for the most part, but to bear in mind that the market may not always be profitable and basically before undertaking any similar ventures to always check all tha data and figures and make informed decisions.