A survey by one of the leading landlord organisations in the UK suggests that property investors are still looking to expand their portfolios but would like to see more competition in the mortgage market place.
The National Landlords Association (NLA) discovered that 9 out of 10 members would like to see more competition amongst loan companies, with 75% saying they would like lenders to be a little more innovative when it comes to packaging their products. It is little wonder that mortgage products raise such interest in the private residential letting market as almost three quarters of those questioned revealed they had loan obligations on their properties. The average buy-to-let investor had outstanding loans on 8 properties, with 1 in 5 of those saying they had taken landlord insurance out on new projects over the last 12 months.
David Salusbury, Chairman of the NLA, said the survey gave loan providers plenty to think about, saying “More than half of landlords surveyed do not believe that access to buy-to-let mortgages is getting any easier, with three in five agreeing that their individual circumstances as landlords are not being considered by buy-to-let lenders. Early signs of increasing property acquisition suggest that landlords are feeling more confident about future prospects of the buy-to-let market. However, while these findings are encouraging, some professional landlords, with more extensive portfolios, seem to be struggling to secure funds for additional expansion.”
The NLA reported little change in their Landlord Optimism Index but suggested that the majority of their members are treating the future with cautious optimism rather than being bullish about their prospects.