BoE find buy to let still on the up

The Bank of England’s Agents’ summary of business conditions June findings have further emphasized the sluggish activity in the housing market, but buy to let continues to thrive.

The smaller properties, usually expected to be bought by first time buyers, have been picked up by buy to let investors capitalising on the market of renters.

With mortgages remaining hard to come by and uncertainty over the future of house prices, they say the market has been ‘subdued.’ The much-publicized difficulty with deposits has majorly impacted the eligibility of a mortgage for most first time buyers.

With the uneasy prices, home-buyers were not willing to move if they were unable to carry over their mortgage. And the only new properties being built were those already pre-let. Although London did in fact see a small improvement in house-builds.

The Bank also appears cautious of forced sales if the Bank Rate increases, possibly resulting a reduction in house prices while at the same time reducing demand. This could be seen as playing into the buy to let investors hands even more.