Paragon reveals renewed landlord confidence

Landlords have been taking advantage of house price weakness since the first quarter of 2007. They owned an average of 11 properties at the beginning of 2007 and this has increased to 12 properties by the third quarter of 2009.
 
A third of landlords also believe that tenant demand will grow over the next 12 months, with 57% predicting it will remain stable. Over half of landlords attempted to obtain a buy-to-let mortgage in the third quarter and of those, nearly nine out of 10 stated that it was more difficult to secure a buy-to-let mortgage than in the previous three months
Landlords plan to retain property in the fourth quarter and just 5.7% said they planned to sell property in the period.
 
Nigel Terrington, Paragon Group chief executive, said: “A number of factors point to renewed landlord confidence in the third quarter of the year. Landlords expect the net value of their property portfolios to increase over the next 12 months, the first positive prediction for more than two years, and the research shows that landlords not only retained existing properties during that period, they added to their portfolios.
 
“Landlords are reporting that tenant demand continues to be strong. This has been a recurrent theme throughout both 2008 and 2009 as people are either unwilling or unable to purchase property and decide to rent instead. It is unlikely that the mainstream mortgage market will recover for a number of years and vast sectors of the population, such as first-time buyers and people with impaired credit history, continue to be excluded from the market.”