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A recent survey of more than 2,500 landlords has revealed that 61% of landlords are now aged 55 and above, compared to 12 years ago when only 24% of landlords were in the 55 and over bracket.
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Landlord Survey
The research, carried out by academics at the London School of Economics and Politics, was commissioned by the Council of Mortgage Lenders. What is illustrates is how rising property prices have had an effect on the private rental sector. First time buyers are being priced out of the property market at the lower end, so they are older by the time they buy their first properties. Since most landlords invest in property once they own a home, this has a knock-on effect on the age of property investors.
Government Tax Changes
There has been a lot of talk about how the government’s tax changes affect landlords, with plenty of dire warnings about rent rises and landlords selling up. However, the survey found that half of all landlords had no mortgage debt and 85% had not sold a property in the previous year, so they were unaffected by the loss of mortgage interest tax relief of the increase in stamp duty tax on second properties.
The people who are most affected by the tax changes are larger landlords who re-mortgage one property to buy another. Many landlords are moving their portfolios into limited companies to minimise their tax liabilities, but the survey found very few of these landlords were using commercial mortgages.
