Buy-to-Let Property Sales Up by 50% in a Year
Buy-to-let property sales rose by more than 50% in August, compared with the same month last year, at a total value of £3.31 billion, according to market research company Equifax Touchstone.
Buy-to-Let Property Sales Up by 50% in a Year
From January to August this year, buy-to-let sales had hit £25.62 billion, a 30% increase on January to August 2014.
Equifax Touchstone believes that buy-to-let investors are attracted to the market by the continued economic recovery, low interest rates and competitive deals from lenders.
Additionally, private rent prices have grown by more than 10% since the start of the year.
Despite seeing annual growth, buy-to-let sales actually dropped in August by 12.5% from the £3.77 billion reported in July.
However, this is common during the summer holiday period and is considerably less than the fall in sales recorded last year, of 21%.
The figures cover 92% of the intermediated lending market. Residential sales between January and August rose by 14.8% compared to the same period in 2014.
Including the buy-to-let sales growth, total sales for January to August were up by 18% annually. The average value of a residential mortgage in August was £183,337, compared with £170,371 in August 2014. The typical buy-to-let loan was worth £158,782 compared to £143,546 last August.
Relationship Manager at Equifax Touchstone, Iain Hill, says: “We have seen promising signs of growth in the buy-to-let lending market in the past year, as demand continues to rise and this has been further consolidated by last month’s figures. We expect this upward trend to continue in the coming months.
“Despite a fall in sales in August, which was slightly more than expected given the robust nature of the market so far this year, it’s promising to see sustained year-on-year growth.
“The current favourable market conditions, supported by low interest rates and the greater capacity for lenders to offer mortgages, have encouraged borrowers to enter the market.”1
1 http://www.propertyindustryeye.com/buy-to-let-sales-rise-by-50-in-one-year/