It is only natural that many people in the United Kingdom, and right here in greater Manchester, will be asking; ‘how is the buy to let market doing?’ This is an area of the property market that is having an increasingly important impact on people’s lives, whether you are a tenant or landlord, keeping an interest in the behaviour of the market makes sense.
It is also very true to say that this has been an eventful time for the buy to let market. The Government has made a number of changes in the past year, causing landlords and tenants alike to question the changes, and their presence in the market place.
The stamp duty change had the ability to be a game-changer in the buy to let market
With the stamp duty changes which came into effect at the start of April 2016, it should come as no surprise that there was a surge in the market, with landlords snapping up property before the changes came in to place. It was understandable that landlords were in a rush to increase their portfolios before the change. Waiting until April would have seen them paying out considerably different sums of money to buy the same property.
The changes were introduced by the Government to slow down the buy to let market, but a statement released by the Bank of England in the middle of May suggests that this isn’t going to happen. The buy to let market boom is expected to last for many more years.
Initial findings suggest that a total of 45,000 loans were taken out in March, which is a 142% rise compared on the figures for March 2015. Okay, the market in March 2015 was slightly depressed due to the uncertainty over the General Election which was scheduled for May 2015, but this surely cannot account for the full scale of the increase?
The figures for February suggest that buy to let loans were up by 88% compared to February of 2015, landlords borrowing accounted for over £7.1 billion of these loans. Information provided by the Council of Mortgage Lenders indicate that this figure is an increase of 163% when compared to the previous year’s figures.
There was clearly a rush to snap up properties at a more affordable prices, it will be interesting to see the figures for April onwards, where landlords are required to pay a much higher price to obtain property.
At Spencer Harvey, we are always happy to discuss the current state of the property market, if you would like any information or guidance about how the market is likely to affect you, please get in touch and we’ll be more than happy to help you or offer you guidance.
For all your property needs, please contact Spencer Harvey Estate and Letting Agents on:
0161 480 8888
https://www.spencerharvey.co.uk