According to the latest buy to let index from LSL Property Services plc average rents in March 2013 were 0.5% up on rents in February, a t £735, and are 4.2% up on the same time in 2012. This was the first increase in 5 months, there having been falls in the previous 4 months.…
Well, according to research from HSBC, it is, with average gross buy to let yields of 7.82%. Now, I have to say, I’m not sure how HSBC conducted their research. The inference from the press release seems to be that they looked at yields in the locations where there is the greatest proportion of rented…
Buy-to-let must surely be one of the financial success stories of our times. Just think about this. Prior to 1996 there were no buy-to-let mortgages. According to the Halifax, the number of buy-to-let mortgages jumped from 275,000 at the end of 2002 to 408,300 by the end of 2003. By the end of 2005 there…
Before the buy-to-let scheme started in 1996 it was extremely difficult for private investors to raise finance on residential investment property, unless they were already high net-worth individuals, or were high-income earners, or both. At that time any residential property loan, other than a standard mortgage loan to an owner-occupier, would be treated by the…
Over the last few years several things have coincided to boost the market for private residential property investment: The performance of the stock market has been relatively poor over the last decade. Here’s a fact you’ll very often hear quoted. On January 1st 2000 the FTSE stood at 7,000. Today, as I write, more than…
