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Small Landlords Continue to Offload Properties, Belvoir Reports
This article is an external press release originally published on the Landlord News website, which has now been migrated to the Just Landlords blog.
Small landlords are continuing to offload their investments, according to Belvoir.
The estate and letting agent reports that, in the third quarter (Q3) of the year, its offices recorded an increase from 48% to 52% in landlords selling up to three properties, and a similar number selling between four and five properties, compared to Q2.
However, there was a decline, from 17% to 12%, in landlords selling six to ten properties. This leads us to believe that it’s the smaller landlords that are offloading their investments.
The CEO of Belvoir, Dorian Gonsalves, notes that, two years ago, 10-18% of its offices were reporting no sales of landlords’ properties. This figure is now 4-5%.
He claims: “The main reasons for landlords exiting the market are tax changes, constant regulation and increasing legislation, landlords moving back into their properties, and lower investment returns, as well as uncertainty over Brexit and what this will mean for the market.
“When selling properties, only 19% of offices reported properties being sold to first time buyers as the Government hoped, however.”
Gonsalves continues: “According to our survey, 33% of offices reported properties are being sold to other landlords and 23% are general sales.
“This suggests the Government’s plan to increase homeownership by reducing the attractiveness of buy-to-let isn’t necessarily working.”
He adds: “We are still seeing landlords buying, but the numbers of properties are reduced, particularly those landlords buying six or more properties.”
Although Belvoir is predicting rent price increases next year, it reports that, in Q3 this year, the average rent dropped by 1.25% on the same period of 2017. This takes the current average UK rent price to £730 per month.
Are you planning to offload some or all of your buy-to-let properties? If so, let us know whether you’re a small or large-scale landlord, and why you’re deciding to leave the sector.
