Surge in the number of buy to let mortgage investors

High rents and more favourable buy to let mortgage deals are tempting buyers into becoming landlords. According to new research, buy to let investors are emerging as one of the surprise beneficiaries of the famine in mortgage lending. Lower house prices, rising rents and improving mortgage deals are tempting investors once more.

According to estate agent Savills, the share of residential housing stock owned by private landlords now makes up almost a fifth of the total, which is an increase of more than 40 per cent since the financial crisis. Since the crisis, tighter lending standards introduced by Britain's banks, have
created opportunities for some investors.

Savills advise that rather than the house price appreciation that lured investors during the boom, it is the prospect of rising rental income that is proving attractive to new buy to let mortgage investors. The volume of buy to let handed to private landlords jumped 16 per cent to £3.8bn in the third quarter of last year, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders.

Evidence of a resurgence in buy to let mortgage investors is likely to increase political pressure on the government to take measures to help first-time buyers. Despite the sharp drop in house prices which has occurred since the recession, and the expectation of a further decline this year, first-time buyers are struggling to secure a foothold on the property ladder.