Landlord Voice Magazine July 2015 - Doncaster | Page 6
UK landlord hotspots - 5 year change
Rank
Survey shows private rental sector is buoyant
T
he General Election campaign of 2015 saw
political parties across the spectrum vying
for their say over the future of the UK’s undersupplied housing market.
And while Labour’s plans for rental caps and
three-year tenancies may have spooked a few, the
Tories’ plans to build 200,000 new homes during
the course of this parliament seem to have done
little to deter buy-to-let investors.
But this is hardly surprising when you consider
the findings of a report published last year by the
Home Builders Federation.
The National Landlords Survey found the UK
was a million homes short of what was needed to
plug the UK housing gap.
Simple Landlords Insurance surveyed more than
1,400 landlords about their experience of the buyto-let market – and the results paint a picture of a
buoyant private-rented sector.
The survey found that 48 percent of respondents
owned more than two rental properties while 11
per cent had more than five.
Furthermore, the data showed 56 percent
of respondents had made a conscious decision
to invest in a buy-to-let property reflecting the
demand for housing in their areas.
Seventy-eight percent of landlord respondents
said they were confident they could find a new
tenant for their property within four weeks if it
were to become unoccupied.
And with figures released by Homelet showing
rents shot up by 12.5 per cent across the country
during the second quarter of the year, it is telling
that 69 percent of Simple Landlords Insurance
survey respondents said they had evicted tenants
due to rent arrears.
Twenty-four percent said they planned to increase
rent in the next 12 months and with rents at such a
premium it is perhaps also unsurprising that 55 per
cent of the National Landlords Survey respondents
held rental yield as their motivation for investing.
The survey also threw up some interesting
regional variants.
It showed the best performing areas for buy-to-
let were the midlands and south central England.
In the midlands:
• Thirty-six percent of landlords in the region
said they were looking to increase the number
of rental properties they owned in the next year
compared with 33 per cent nationally
• Forty-nine percent of midlands landlords
said if they had to find a tenant in the next 12
months they could do so within four weeks,
compared to 44 percent nationally
In South Central England:
• Thirty-six percent of landlords in the region
said they were looking to increase the number
of rental properties they own in the next year
compared with 33 percent nationally
• Forty-seven percent of south central landlords
said if they had to find a tenant in the next 12
months they could do so within four weeks,
compared to 44 percent nationally
To read more about the Home Builders Federation
report visit http://www.hbf.co.uk/media-centre/
news/view/housing-shortage-hits-one-million/
The survey results were matched against Simple
Landlords Insurances data which showed some
UK cities had seen remarkable changes in terms of
popularity as buy-to-let destinations during the last
five years.
The data showed:
• Cardiff was now the fifth most popular UK
buy-to-let destination – having jumped nine
places from 14th
• Hull had jumped 14 places – from 28th to 14th
• Edinburgh and Scotland had fallen by seven
and five places respectively – from 12th to 5th
and from 8th to 13th
The following pages show the key findings from the
survey.
www.simplelandlordsinsurance.com
6 | LandlordVoice | July 2015
2008 / 2009
1st
London
1st
2nd
The National Landlords Survey 2015
City / Town
Manchester
3rd
3rd
Birmingham
2nd
4th
Nottingham
6th
5th
Cardiff
14th
6th
Liverpool
7th
7th
Leicester
10th
8th
Leeds
4th
9th
Sheffield
11th
10th
Bristol
9th
11th
Bradford
12th
12th
Edinburgh
5th
13th
Glasgow
8th
14th
Hull
28th
15th
Reading
15th
16th
Coventry
17th
17th
Newcastle-upon-tyne
13th
18th
Stoke-on-trent
18th
19th
Southampton
16th
20th
Doncaster
19th
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www.simplelandlordsinsurance.com
July 2015 | LandlordVoice | 7