According to the latest poll by an online letting agency, landlord confidence in the UK residential letting sector remains high.
Online agents, UPAD, revealed their latest poll of landlords reflected a slight decrease in confidence from the previous month but still remained at 61% on their special index formula. Good news indeed for landlord insurance providers.
It seems that landlords on both sides of the divide, those that are confident of the future and those that are not, both agree that there are plenty of tenants around. It is just about how they perceive the market; some have a glass half full others have a glass half empty.
James Davis, the Chief Executive of UPAD, said “More than ever this month, landlord confidence is all about the tenant. In some areas of the country, we’re seeing a continuation of the record tenant demand of the last few months. As the cuts start to bite, other landlords are experiencing a variety of problems with their tenants. In some cases, tenants are in arrears; elsewhere, we’re seeing rents start to fall.
“Tenants are rightly reluctant to over-commit themselves, but this does worry landlords, especially those whose rent payments are only just covering their mortgages. There is an ongoing concern about possible interest rate rises, which would be disastrous for many people.”
It seems that the letting sector will remain buoyant for the first half of 2011 at least, the big question is, when will interest rates go up and how will it affect the market. There seems little possibility of house building on a large scale which should really mean landlords already holding properties can expect tenants to remain in good supply.