"It’s becoming fairly apparent that the exodus of buy-to-let landlords has been somewhat exaggerated and the vast majority continue to see the rental sector as a secure and consistent avenue of investment, despite the government’s best efforts to dent profitability"
- Ed Phillips - Lomond
The latest research by Lomond has revealed that, two weeks on from the Autumn Budget, fewer landlords are looking to exit the sector, with the number of tenanted properties listed for sale having fallen by as much as 3% across some areas of the market.
Lomond analysed current properties listed for sale with a tenant in situ and how this level of for-sale stock has changed since the Budget, providing insight into buy-to-let investor sentiment and the supposed exodus of landlords.
There had been widespread fears of a hike to capital gains tax in the recent Autumn Budget, with many predicting that this would drive more landlords from the rental sector as a result.
However, these fears were laid to rest when it was confirmed that increases to capital gains tax would not apply to residential property, although second-home buyers and buy-to-let investors were hit with a 2% increase in stamp duty costs when buying.
Despite this, the figures from Lomond suggest that landlords are acting with greater confidence and the latest Autumn Budget certainly hasn’t helped drive an exodus from the sector.
In fact, in the two weeks that followed, there was a marginal decline of -0.6% in the number of properties listed for sale across England with a tenant in situ.
However, this 14-day reduction in rental stock listings climbs as high as 3% in the East of England, with the South West (-2.5%) and North East (-1.9%) also seeing notable reductions.
What’s more, a further four regions have seen a reduction in tenanted for sale stock in the last two weeks.
The Midlands have seen an increase in this respect, with a jump of 1.4% in the East Midlands and an 0.8% increase across the West Midlands.
Lomond CEO, Ed Phillips, commented: “It’s becoming fairly apparent that the exodus of buy-to-let landlords has been somewhat exaggerated and the vast majority continue to see the rental sector as a secure and consistent avenue of investment, despite the government’s best efforts to dent profitability.
"The good news is that having escaped a capital gains tax increase, we simply haven’t seen a rush for the door following the Autumn Budget.
"We expect the buy-to-let landscape will continue to remain positive now that the budget dust has settled.”
