Almost one in three private landlords are planning to sell up, reducing much needed housing in the PRS in process, as buy-to-let investment figures no longer stack up, amid rising mortgage costs.
With rents soaring, the buy-to-let market is once again under the spotlight, with some pro-tenancy groups and politicians calling for a rent freeze. But some buy-to-let investors are being forced to hike rental costs as they are forced to accept significantly higher mortgage borrowing rates.
According to new data provided by Landbay, the deciding factor for 60% of landlords intending to sell is rising interest rates – an increase from 45% in the previous survey, while almost half (45%) said rent doesn’t cover their mortgage costs – up from 28% in the Q4 2022 survey.
Respondents also mentioned landlord taxation (47%), the cost of meeting the proposed EPC requirements (40%) and worries about evicting tenants (34%).
But while some buy-to-let landlords are looking to exit the market, others are simply reducing the size of the portfolios.
“It’s certainly the case that some landlords are trimming their portfolios in the current climate,” said Paul Brett of Landbay, which reports that 30% of landlords plan to sell some properties in the coming months.
“For those considering selling, we’d always say it’s worth their time speaking with a broker to find out what is their best possible move, especially when there’s lenders like us willing to innovate and find solutions to support landlords in all situations,” he added.
But Brett is keen to point out that just 6% plan to sell all their properties with respondents split across small, medium and large landlords.
The data from Landbay shows while a significant chunck of the housing stock in the PRS could be lost in the near-term, many landlords do not intend to sell any buy-to-let properties.
Some 64% of buy-to-let landlords surveyed are not planning to sell any of their properties in the next 12 months, the data revealed.
The strongest sentiment was found among landlords with individual properties (75%) and those with smaller portfolios of two or three properties (69%). However, almost the same number of landlords with more than 20 properties (65%) shared the same intention.
Brett commented: One-in-five houses in England and Wales depend on the private rented sector (PRS) for housing.”
Comments (1)
Meanwhile at the coal face …… this has been happening for months but a sudden surge now interest rates are biting. There is no relief for landlords, bailing out a historic mismanagement of housing by all governments.
Where do you expect these homeless tenants to go? This is misery is already already for many and is going to get worse. So much overspill housing opportunities have been filled with asylum seekers and illegal immigrants etc to add to the mess.
This is not going to be a crisis, it already is.