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According to a new report titled: “18 Years of Buy-to-Let” private landlords now own one in five properties in the UK, which just goes to show just how much the buy to let market has grown in the last 18 years. The report also claims that UK landlords will buy a further one million homes over the next five years and, if government predictions are to be believed, by 2032 landlords will own around 33 per cent of properties.
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The Birth of a Phenomenon
Buy to let first became recognisable phenomenon back in 1996 when lenders introduced mortgages specifically for private landlords. By 2005, buy to let was hugely popular and amateur landlords were snapping up properties all over the country, keen to cash in on the housing boom. Then the recession hit and the housing bubble burst. However, instead of killing the buy to let market stone dead, the recession actually pushed more people into the rental market and because interest rates dropped to an all-time low, many landlords were able to hang on to their properties.
Buy To Let Booming in the UK
Since then the market has continued to grow and there are now more than 700 landlord loans available from high street and specialist lenders. The private rented market is booming and although this is good news for landlords, not everyone is happy about it – and representatives from lobby group, Generation Rent have been rather vocal on the subject:
“This sort of data shows how the market isn’t operating properly and has become a vicious cycle. More people are attracted to buy-to-let which drives up property prices, in turn trapping more tenants into renting for longer.”
