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The real problem is
housing:- "The referendum will make no difference" says Belvoir
BUY to Let property investors are
spending too much time worrying about the effect of the EU referendum on the UK
lettings market because; according to Lincolnshire based, national property
specialists, Belvoir; there are far more dangerous factors threatening UK
housing. Belvoir has 6 offices on Merseyside. Martin Unsworth, who owns the
Belvoir office on Allerton Road in Mossley Hill, says:- "There are just
not enough properties for rent in the UK to satisfy tenant demand; and that
fundamental priority will remain unchanged by the referendum."
The number of rental properties throughout the UK has been falling year on year
and, nationally, stock figures are currently 5% down over the same period in
2015. "The referendum is causing uncertainty both for home buyers looking
to buy properties and landlords looking to invest in properties, but this is
making no difference to tenant demand which remains extremely strong."
says Belvoir's Managing Director, Dorian Gonsalves.
The real problem, he argues, lies in a poor government strategy that has been
worsened by 2 blunders hitting the number of people buying new properties to
rent and the number of landlords investing in more properties. The 1st; was
hiking up the rate of Stamp Duty for buy to let investors. This
"government interference in a free market" caused a rush on mortgages,
earlier this year, as investors pushed 45,000 purchase deals through before the
new rates kicked in and caused a rocketing 163% distortion in buy to let
mortgage lending. The 2nd was the change in Mortgage Interest Tax Relief; which
delivered a 2nd body blow to landlords and was "totally the wrong
strategy." says Dorian Gonsalves. The result of introducing these added
expenses for landlords looks like slowing down the market in the 2nd ˝ of the
year and putting a further brake on the number of rented properties available.
Last month Belvoir was advertising 1,994 properties for rent compared with 2,269
at the same time last year. And that 12% drop in Belvoir's current availability
of properties to let is expected to continue; making life more difficult for
rent paying tenants. At the Belvoir Office, on Sir Thomas Street in Liverpool,
owner Paul Rice, says:- "The Government should be incentivising landlords
to increase the national housing stock. But if you choke off the supply of
rented homes then property prices will rise and rents are likely to be forced up
by a more aggressive 3% before the end of the year."
For the last 20 years landlords have been plugging the gap in the housing market
caused by the disappearance of Council Houses, from 3.5 million to 1.6 million,
and the slow growth of new replacement social housing. And, while the government
still fails to address the imbalance, the declining availability of homes for
rent is becoming a crisis issue. Dorian Gonsalves adds:- "This is
the real problem and one that the EU referendum will not change. We just hope
that an aggressive Government plan to build more housing, especially social
housing, and serious consideration given to reversing landlord Tax changes will
undo some of the recent damage to the private rented sector and increase the
future supply of rented homes which are desperately needed by 10 million tenants
across the UK."
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