Last week we came across a very interesting piece of information about buy-to-let tenants – it seems that the demand for buy-to-let property is set to continue with surprising new figures that indicate that as much as half of the current tenants in these properties believe they will always rent. Contrast this to the mentality of the past where rentals were a stopgap on the way to home ownership and it’s clear that the public perception of how best to secure the place called home has changed considerably over the last decade.
The info came from a recent investigation by Santander Mortgages with the following surprising results:
- 49% of non-homeowners do not expect to ever buy a property
- There is strong demand for rental properties and subsequent demand for buy-to-let investments across the UK
- Rents in the UK are currently providing buy-to-let investors with record yields
Apparently from this 49% of non-homeowners the options were to rent forever or to continue to live with mum and dad (poor mum and dad!) Interestingly Santander’s research also turned up the fact that 1.1 million people would be happy to move abroad to buy a home. What this data tells us is that due to what is fast approaching 10 years of global economic recession the UK is a hard country to be a first time property buyer in. Not only that, but it is not necessarily seen as an attractive prospect any longer. Whilst you are welcome to ruminate on the cultural and economic factors that have contributed to this change in the national identity, one thing is clear – this is good news for landlords as it means tenancies will continue to be filled and, according to recent figures, grow at a slow but steady rate as well.
What does this mean for Eastbourne landlords? Well as we all know living costs have continued to rise in the South-East as much as the rest of the country and have overtaken them in many areas. As these costs rise ahead of any increase in peoples’ salaries, raising the deposit needed to jump onto the property ladder becomes harder and harder to accomplish. When interviewed many first time buyers acknowledged they would not have been able to make the transition from renting to buying without kind parents acting as guarantors to secure a mortgage.
As an Eastbourne landlord this means you are in a very good position. Living costs are high, wages are low and this means people want to rent your property, and with the long term in mind. Couple this with the strong capital growth caused by the price rises that have led many young people to being unable to afford a deposit and the sheer demand for rental properties that continues to cause monthly yield increases and you can see that being an Eastbourne landlord is to be in a strong position.
