Landlords’ confidence in the buy-to-let sector continues to fall with the majority less confident about the PRS than they were three months ago, according to the Residential Landlords Association (RLA).
The gap between the percentage of landlords planning to sell properties and those seeking to purchase has increased seven fold in the last two years from 4 percentage points to 21 percentage points.
Confidence is at its lowest in London and Wales and highest in the West Midlands followed by the North East and Yorkshire and The Humber.
Overall, more than half - 55.1% - of private landlords were less confident about the market in Q3 2019, compared with the preceding quarter.
Some 34% of landlords are planning to sell property over the next year compared with 22% two years ago.
Just 13% plan to purchase at least one property to rent out compared with 18 two years ago.
One positive outcome for tenants is that many landlords are not increasing rents with two thirds freezing their rents over the last year.
David Smith, policy director for the RLA, commented: “We warned the government that the tax increases they have imposed on landlords would be counter-productive and these figures show how right we were. All they are achieving is driving landlords to leave the market, damage investment and so making it more difficult for tenants to find somewhere suitable to live.
“Whoever is in government following the election needs to completely change the approach and start to support good landlords to encourage them to invest to meet the rising demand for rented housing.”
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"All they are achieving is driving landlords to leave the market"
Isn't that precisely what the changes introduced by the last government and continued by the current government were intended to do? As well as to collect a bit of extra tax in the meanwhile.
I’m selling and reducing portfolio had enough
Until we start seeing normal tenants on the street homeless Govt WON'T do anything to assist the PRS.
It has taken the Irish Govt over 4 years to realise what their S24 version has done to the Irish PRS.
Thousands of LL have sold up.
Now the Irish Govt is desperate for the LL to return.
But they are having none of it.
Consequently homelessness has substantially increased and rents have massively increased.
This is what will happen in the UK.
So about another 4 years of pain for the PRS until Govt accepts it's errors of judgement!!.
So like many others I'm selling up.
I'll wait until normality returns in about 5 years and see where we are.
Trouble is I'll be 5 years older and my appetite for being a LL again will I reckon have considerably waned!!
The Govt would have to reverse all the current changes for me to even consider returning.
Just can't see the UK Govt behaving like the Irish one which is offering all sorts of incentives in an effort to attract LL to return to it and invest in more rental property.
I say to LL staying the course for the next 5 years good luck to you as you are surely gonna need it!!
"Until we start seeing normal tenants on the street homeless Govt WON'T do anything to assist the PRS."
Paul there are 85,000 households (with 126,000 children) in temporary/emergency accommodation. This is as close as they get to being on the streets. How many more before Government take note?
In that case the TA will have to run out.
How much TA is there?
Admittedly decades ago this is what Govt did.
Housed in TA which of course was and is far more expensive than housing in social and private rented accommodation.
But of course Govt action is causing LL to sell up and also those remaining are increasingly refusing to let to DSS tenants for all the well known reasons.
Essentially the Govt is using the taxpayer to create the aura that it is wishing to help GR afford to buy a property in the SE.
So a firm of gerrymandering if you will on the backs of the misery of those tenants no longer able to rent from a private LL who ISN'T there anymore or if still is certainly won't wish to rent to the likes of them.
For those LL that are prepared to let to HB types they need the market rent.
This is only about £200 pm than the LHA rates and a lot cheaper than TA but political dogma and a desire to win the heart of GR us causing untold misery for such HB tenants as well as costing the taxpayer billions.
Crazy world!!
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