The Highs and Lows of the Private Rented Sector

Welcome to this exclusive feature of Property Market Intelligence, produced in conjunction with Just Mortgages we bring you a summary of the property market, and the opportunities this brings.

Regardless of how you’re currently financing your property portfolio, the historically low interest rates and recent growth in property values could mean that you may be sitting on an opportunity to maximise your income, reduce the length of time it will take to pay back a mortgage debt or indeed grow the size of your portfolio.    

Whatever your current position we invite you to consider taking specialist, tailored financial advice.

Those who follow the Private Rented Sector could be forgiven for thinking it’s all doom and gloom.  However, news of increased regulation and tax changes are hand in hand with the reality that private renting is the only tenure type that has grown in recent years and is a trend that seems set to continue.

The millennial generation are finding taking that first step onto the housing ladder more challenging than it was for generations before them.  Meanwhile, the supply of social homes is in decline.  

However private tenants today have access to a wide choice of good quality homes provided by the private landlords. 

In many cases, landlords are offering homes for rent that they or their family once lived in themselves - often inherited from parents or grandparents, or perhaps their own home they’ve chosen to rent out rather than sell.  Alternatively, some landlords actively chose to invest in this sector as they felt property would be a more suitable investment option for them, as opposed to more traditional alternatives.  

Over the last five years property values across the UK have grown by an average 34% which represents a real-term increase in value of £57,468. Source ONS Jan 2013-Jan 2018

At the same time, official interest rates remain at historic lows as the Bank of England again voting to maintain rates at 0.5% on Thursday 11th May 2018, which is far from the 5.5% rate we saw a decade ago.

This combination of growing values, increased demand and low borrowing costs means property remains an attractive long-term investment option for many landlords. As with any investment we would always recommend professional, specialist advice is taken before making any financial decisions. The value of your investments and any income from them may fall as well as rise and is not guaranteed. You may get back less than you invest.