A report issued by a leading buy to let mortgage provider predicts continued success for the property investor with an interest in landlord insurance.
The report from Paragon Mortgages says that private residential landlords are buying properties in all areas of the UK with the average portfolio now boasting over 14 properties. In just three months the average size of a landlord’s portfolio has gone from 12.9 to 14.1 and even over a sluggish year the increase now stands at 1.6. Entitled the Paragon Private Sector Trends Survey the report also discovered that 21% of landlords plan to increase their holdings even more in the third quarter of 2012 which once again shows an increase of 3%.
There is also a noticeable trend in the type of housing that is attracting landlords. More and more it seems are now looking to invest in city centre apartments which offer high rental possibilities. The other area of attraction is the student market with landlords seeing the possibility of tenants staying put for the three or four years they spend at their seat of learning. It is a dramatic change of direction for many landlords as just 12 months ago landlords holding student lets in their portfolio were worried they would become a liability with the student population rapidly decreasing because of the increase in tuition fees. This has not proved to be the case and in fact Steve Olejnik, head of sales at Mortgage for Business, said “Investing in student property remains hugely popular. Yields tend to be much better than normal buy-to-let investments. Buy-to-let usually provides average yields of 5 to 5.5 percent, while student lets achieve 7 to 9 percent.”
Wherever landlords do decide to invest with an average rental achievement of £712 in the UK property investors do appear to have a bright future for the short term at least.