x
By using this website, you agree to our use of cookies to enhance your experience.

TODAY'S OTHER NEWS

First-time buyers in the driver’s seat as buy-to-let property sales fade

The price of small properties across many parts of the country has dropped largely because landlord purchases are down, offering fresh hope for first-time buyers looking to get a foot on the property ladder, new figures show.

The number of properties bought by landlords has declined sharply following a tax and regulatory clampdown, resulting in a 0.1% drop in asking prices for properties with two-bedrooms or fewer last month, the latest figures from Rightmove reveal.

Smaller properties are typically popular with landlords, but the recent fall in buy-to-let investor activity, in response to tax changes and tighter lending rules, offers first-time buyers “an autumn opportunity to negotiate a favourable deal”, according to the property website.

Advertisement

Miles Shipside, director of Rightmove, said: “Landlords are clearly buying far fewer properties and that leaves a gap in the market for first-time buyers.

“While landlords were hit with a 3% stamp duty surcharge on property purchases back in April 2016, in contrast most first-time buyers were effectively awarded stamp duty-free status in November 2017.”

First-time buyers are now paying an average of £190,000 for their home, compared with £307,000 across the whole market, Rightmove said.

Meanwhile, separate data from Hamptons International shows that the total value of new buy-to-let acquisitions during the first half of 2018 dropped by 30% compared with the same period in 2015, as regulatory and tax changes continue to have an adverse impact on the buy-to-let market.

Want to comment on this story? If so...if any post is considered to victimise, harass, degrade or intimidate an individual or group of individuals on any basis, then the post may be deleted and the individual immediately banned from posting in future.

icon

Please login to comment

MovePal MovePal MovePal
sign up