Buy-to-let valuations have fallen in the aftermath of the mortgage interest relief changes, while first-time buyer instructions continue to sustain the market, Connells Survey & Valuation claim.
The surveyor’s latest figures show that buy-to-let purchase valuations dipped to just 7% of market activity in April, below the five-year average of 14% and even lower than April 2016 in the aftermath of the Stamp Duty rush.
Remortgaging seems to be keeping the buy-to-let market going and the firm says it is now responsible for 11% of total valuations in the market.
Meanwhile, first-time buyer valuations increased to 34% in April, up from 32% in March.
John Bagshaw, corporate services director of Connells Survey & Valuation, said: “The Government’s anti-landlord policies have been hitting smaller players.
“Over the last year, buy-to-let valuations have made up less than 10% of market activity, representing a new low in April.
“Having said that, buy-to-let valuations only fell 1% month-on-month and so the comparison with the five-year average doesn’t always tell the whole story.
“First-time buyer activity has sustained the market, as buy-to-let borrowing has declined.”
Measures such as the withdrawal of interest relief , extra stamp duty, increased costs (legionella, EICR etc) surely just lead to increased rents, whether by the landlords trying to recoup their additional expenditure or due to lack of vacant stock.
Doesn’t seem to make sense for landlords or tenants, who are the government trying to help or hinder here? Are they not supposed to look after all our interests as much as possible? They seem to have forgotten that.
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So is the rented stock diminishing? Over the last year we have seen very little new properties for rent but some landlords are selling up. The buy-to-let interest only mortgages are a time bomb in 10 years?
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