Rents have continued to rise despite a slight dip in
property values for
buy-to-let mortgage holders, research has said.
The specialist
mortgage company Paragon
Mortgages has claimed that prices dipped slightly between September and August, but were still almost £8,000 higher than April. Rents have also risen as much as £1,000 in some areas, three times the rate of inflation.
The period of increases has reassured
buy-to-let mortgage holders who experienced static or lowered prices between November 2004 and April 2005. In August landlords paid an average of £160,954, up from £155,622 in April.
John Heron, managing director of Paragon Mortgages, said: "The market took a breather in the winter and early spring 2004/5, which translated into flat property prices paid by landlords.
"More recently, there’s been growing evidence that landlords are willing to engage in transactions and that is having the effect of moving prices of
investment properties purchased gently upwards."
Ed Stansfield, a property economist with Capital Ecomomics told the Scotsman that current renting conditions are good for existing buy-to-let mortgage holders: "Tenants are less demanding, void periods are lower and they are allowing landlords to command higher rents than they have done for several years."
"And the incentive to get out, provided the pace of any price falls remains contained and moderate, I think is going to be fairly low," he added.
