It would seem that the UK housing market has experienced a very positive start to 2020. Rightmove announced in January that site visits had surpassed 150 million for the first time, making it the busiest month ever recorded as property-hunters looked to take advantage of a more certain political outlook.
The difference in sale agreed numbers from January 2019 to January 2020 was a positive increase of 19% in the South East and 20% in East Anglia, and let’s not forget the impressive 26% in London.
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) house price indicator climbed to a score of +17, the highest level in almost three years, as London’s market returned to growth territory. Industry experts are predicting more strong gains, with expectations for prices and sales over the next 12 months rising close to their highest levels on record.
The latest figures show that the number of new Buy-to-Let (BTL) loans achieved its second highest figure for 2019 in December at 6,700 while the value of these loans equalled the highest for the year at £1 billion.
The number of BTL mortgages in arrears had also fallen by five per cent in the third quarter compared to the same quarter in 2018 and the total number accounts for just 0.23 per cent of all BTL mortgages outstanding.
While it’s clear that many landlords have found the last few years a challenge and some have already exited the market, there is still money to be made in the private rented sector and being a landlord can still provide a reasonable income and a healthy pension. If you need any advice regarding your current property portfolio, be it buying, selling or managing, please call the Pace office and speak with one of our professional team.
Marcus James is Lettings Manager at Pace, an independent Southend on Sea Letting Agent. He deals with every aspect of the property letting process, providing expert and candid advice together with tailor-made marketing plans for each property he lists for rental.
Marcus prides himself on ensuring our landlord clients get the best return in the right time frame for their investments by conducting rental appraisals, letting viewings and oversees the running of the lettings department.
