There has been a lot of movement in the buy to let mortgage department for landlords. Some recent research reveals that there are currently 41 buy to let mortgages at a record low rate of 1.5% or below. We understand that there are buy to let landlords offering mortgages at 1% although only to existing customers.
However, with the housing market racing to finish the stamp duty holiday at the end of September prices are rising. Rents are also on the rise in most regions and many landlords are looking to increase the size of their property portfolio. Lenders in the buy to let market are keen for a slice of the business and competition is starting to hot up in the term of pricing and what products are on offer.
However, you always need to look beyond the headed line grabbing price. Lenders are keen to manage their risks some offer better deals with lower loans to value of 16.65%. Other lenders are limiting their offers to reportages or product transfers. As a landlord you should always be aware of what the specific product is, the lending and the affordability criteria.
Some lenders are not willing to lend to first time landlords or those who are non-homeowners. If you are looking into a buy to let mortgage for an HMO or holiday let you may find yourself looking for more specialist lenders where the rates are much higher. It is always good to take independent financial advice.
New League tables show best yields by region and town.
Where are the best buy to let yields?
These are mainly found in the Northeast England according to new research.
The region has an average house price of £144,032 an average rent of £556.00 per month. The rental yield is approximately 4.7% well above the national average of 3.9% according to recent research.
The second in the region on the list is Yorkshire and Humber. Their average house price is £179,408.00 and the average rent is £631.00 per month giving it a yield of 4.2%.
The third most popular buy to let region is the Northwest with an average yield of 4.2%. This is then followed by London where house prices often match high rents. The fifth on the list is the West Midlands where the average house price is £216,973.00 with an average rent of £696.00 with a yield of 3.9%.
Do not hesitate to look at our previous articles regarding buy to let and getting correct advice here.
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New mortgage options for first time buyers buying HMO’s.
The specialist lender Land Bay has launched two new buy to let mortgage products for the first-time landlords who want to invest in HMO’s.
Most lenders require HMO buyers to have experiences as a landlord before lending on these types of properties. HMOs are always very attractive to first time landlords as they come with higher yields. Land bay has new products that are available for HMO’s with up to six bedrooms and includes new build properties. There are other available products on the market, and you should always check with your financial advisor whether there is anything else that can be offered in this regard.
Upbeat rental figures show strong market performance.
There are a recent estate agent shows that rental market across the country the rents potentially rising to 8.5% per year, year on year. They believe these have been the 10 fastest months for rental growth over the last decade having been on set after the pandemic. One of the main reasons for prices to go up is that there is becoming a pressing issue when it comes to stock scarcity. There are approximately 50% fewer homes on the market than the same time 2 years ago. This is where tenants have decided not to move and when their rent has increased, they would rather pay it than must have the hassle of having to move properties.
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This has obviously been made worse by the pandemic and has created almost the perfect storm. It means rents have jumped dramatically as there are more people looking than there is property available. This has specifically manifested itself in the rural and suburban areas where the drop in rentals home on the market has been even greater. This is mainly because people are coming out of the cities within the last 12 months with a view to working from home in the countryside.
Rouge landlords sentence over “catastrophic” safe breeches.
A landlord has recently been sentenced to 9 months imprisonment, suspended for 2 years for breeches of fire safety regulations. The landlord who was the owner of flats in Derby has also been fined a total of £50,000 together with court costs of nearly £23,000. The breeches were identified by fire fighters who were called to a fire in flats in November 2019. They discovered that some doors had no safe closures or smoke seals, the kitchen door did not close due to lack of maintenance and the fire alarm was not working.
In addition, there was no evidence of a fire risk assessment and fire extinguishers were out of test date. Thankfully, no-one was killed or seriously injured in the fire that took place in the flats of 2019. It is important that landlords understand where they manage blocks of flats that they must carry out a fire risk assessment every 5 years and need to be up to date with the fire legislation which is forever changing. Please read our previous articles here.
