Buy-to-let boom continues
A new survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) show the buy-to-let market is continuing to boom despite the recent run of interest rate increases.
Sky-high house prices are keeping many potential buyers in rented accommodation, so fuelling demand which is forcing rents higher.
New landlord instructions jumped during the second quarter, with 20% more surveyors reporting a rise rather than a fall in landlord instructions versus 8% the quarter before.
In addition, 29% more surveyors reported a rise than a fall in tenant lettings, more than the 15% reported in the last quarter.
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"Current economic uncertainty has created an ideal platform for buy-to-let investors to cash in on rising rental levels," said RICS spokesperson Jeremy Leaf.
"Many would-be buyers have decided to wait and see how the interest rate cycle will affect the market," he added.
The number of buy-to-let mortgages in existence has almost doubled to 939,000 in the past three years.
The Bank of England has raised borrowing costs five times since August 2006 to 5.75%.
