Buy-to-let conveyancing a factor in shortage of properties

27th June 2015 by

A boom in the number of buy-to-let conveyancing customers is a significant factor in the current major property shortage in the UK. Estate agents averaged just 52 properties per branch during May, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors’ most recent reports.

The figures mean that there are now fewer properties on the market than at any time in the past 37 years.

Unfortunately, for first-time buyers and those hoping to position themselves to gain a foothold in the UK property market, it is buy-to-let conveyancing customers who are creating the squeeze; the Council for Mortgage Lenders recently found that one in seven of all mortgages currently outstanding in the UK are for buy-to-let properties. Five years ago this figure was just one in nine.

“Britain’s buy-to-let market is booming right now as would-be landlords are eager to enter the sector and current landlords look to expand,” John Bagshaw of Connells Survey and Valuation told the Daily Mail.

Of course, another significant problem is the lack of new homes, although this has only compounded a situation created by the growth of the buy-to-let sector, low interest rates and the number of people buying second homes.
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