9
Sep
Rent levels supported by sales and restricted availability
Sales and a predicted fall in the number of available properties
will support rent levels in the coming months, according to one
property expert.
Mark Butterworth, a director at the Residential Landlords
Association, which offers advice to landlords, said that a few
sales - as unwilling landlords sell up - and an expected net
lowering in the number of properties available will provide support
for rent levels.
His comments follow the publication of a report by the Royal
Institution of Chartered Surveyors, which revealed that the net
balance of surveyors recording a rise in the level of new
instructions increased by six per cent between May and July
2009.
Mr Butterworth also claimed that sales and less availability will
not guard against increasing arrears as unemployment rises.
"Now would be a good time for the Treasury to relax pension rules
to allow Sipps [self-invested personal pensions] to hold a
proportion of residential property," he stated.
This news comes after moneysupermarket.com recently reported that
the number of enquiries for buy-to-let mortgages increased by
nearly 50 per cent in the past year, while the number of available
products decreased by over 70 per cent.
