Landlords keen to buy, says Mortgages For Business

Some 60% of buy-to-let landlords are planning to increase their property portfolios in the next six months, according to a survey from Mortgages for Business.

The survey from the specialist property broker also revealed that 95% of landlords have borrowing on their current portfolio.

The research questioned 251 property investors and found that attractive yields across a variety of investment property types are driving the expansion plans.

Investors want more diverse property portfolios according to the survey, with a 29% rise in purchases of HMOs expected.

The number of multi-unit freehold blocks to be purchased is expected to rise by 19%, while semi-commercial and commercial property purchases will both rise by 15%.

These expected purchases were on top of 82% of respondents saying they were also considering purchasing at least one regular ‘vanilla’ buy-to-let property.

In addition, 45% of landlords revealed that they were considering remortgaging a property in the next three to six months.

“With buy-to-let mortgage rates at historic lows, this strategy may well prove prudent in protecting them against future interest rate rises,” explained David Whittaker, managing director at Mortgages for Business. “Of those who are not looking to remortgage, we must surmise that some will be keen to hang onto their existing reversion rates for as long as possible. It will be interesting to see whether the situation changes as the year goes on.  Accordingly the next survey will include a question about recent remortgaging activity.”

Only 3% of landlords said they were going to reduce the size of their portfolios in the next six months, down from 6% six months ago.

The survey also revealed a preference among investors to choose five-year fixed rate products, with 34% of respondents doing so.

Fewer respondents to the latest survey also suggested that lenders could be doing more to aid property investors – the figure dropped 10% to 58% from last October.

Competitive pricing and an increased number of products are believed to be behind this increase in customer confidence.