CHL Mortgages have suggested that landlords are slightly less positive about the future of the buy-to-let market than they were six months ago.

The survey by CHL Mortgages was completed in July and involved 622 landlord respondents. Although the majority (64%) of respondents were still positive, this figure has fallen from 81% at the start of the year. However, the number of landlords who are unsure about the future of the buy-to-let market is up from 9% to 25%. Read more…

Four out of ten landlords admit that rents from tenants are barely covering their mortgage repayments and any increase in interest rates could lead to disaster, according to flat and house share website Spareroom.co.uk.

41% of landlords revealed that their mortgage repayments are barely covered by rent payments and 43% admitted that if interest rates increase by 2% their rents will no longer cover their mortgage. Read more…

22th June 2010 is the date of the emergency budget announced by the new government and many in the property market industry are concerned about how new measures will affect them.

The good news is that most professionals working in the UK property market celebrated the government’s decision to abolish Home Information Packs (HIPs). Indeed already there has been an increase in the amount of new properties coming into the market since this decision. Read more…

An accountancy firm has warned buy-to-let investors who avoid paying tax on the profits from property sales that they are coming under greater scrutiny by the taxman.

UHY Hacker Young have warned that tax officials are increasingly searching Land Registry records to identify residential property sales by buy-to-let properties to make sure that tax return details are correct. Read more…

The UK housing market has been boosted by the abolition of Home Information Packs (Hips), according to Agency Express the largest ‘For Sale’ board contractor in the UK.

The latest Agency Express Property Activity Index shows that the UK housing market received a “huge” boost last month with the abolition of Home Information Packs (HIP) which played an important part to a substantial increase in housing activity. Read more…

Reports suggest that up to 1million households have borrowed money on credit cards in order to pay their mortgage or rent over the past year; meaning tenant defaults could soar.

A survey by the housing charity Shelter found that 6% of the 2,022 respondents had used a credit card to pay their mortgage or rent in the last 12months - suggesting a national figure of more than 1million people. This figure was even higher in London at 12%. Read more…

Under the recession, many Britons suggested they would avoid using heating to save money on bills for rent and mortgage payments; and some continued living with their former spouse due to financial difficulty.

Tenants and homeowners, under the economic pressure, are trying to spend less on their bills by turning down the heating. Tenants and homeowners are complaining that energy bills are too expensive. Read more…

A recent report by Unbiased.co.uk found that an increasing number of UK homeowners are considering selling their residential home and moving into a rented property.

According to the research nearly 1.75 million homeowners in the UK would consider selling their house and renting especially after the recent crash in the property market and the recession. Read more…

A summary of the ups and downs of the private rental sector over the past year. Read more…

The number of banks prepared to lend a significant amount of loans for real estate investment has almost doubled over the last 6 months.

According to a property consultancy, there is a massive increase in the willingness of lenders to provide large amount of loans to commercial property investors over the past six months. It is reported that 23 lenders are prepared to lend more than £20 million for real estate investment; and about 6 lenders are keen to lend more than £100 million to the sector at the same time. Read more…