Demand is growing for house rentals across the UK.

Tenant demand across 22 major UK cities is currently higher for houses compared to flats or apartments, according to research.

The research looked at what proportion of rental properties is being snapped up by tenants and how demand differed between property types.

The analysis shows that demand for houses is currently at 29% while demand for flats and apartments averages 26%.

Belfast is home to the highest demand for houses at 69%, with Glasgow (59%), Portsmouth (49%), Sheffield (30%) and Cardiff (27%) also ranking with the highest tenant demand for houses.

Demand for rental houses was also higher than flats in Oxford, Newcastle, Cambridge, London, Leicester, Edinburgh and Aberdeen.

Fixing the rate now could be cheaper than betting against rate rises?

Fixed rate mortgages are now proving to be extremely popular with landlords as they look to fix ongoing expenses. Low loan-to-value mortgages are now proving better value than their tracker equivalents at 2-, 3- and 5-year periods so check out the deals on offer.

Even for fixed rate higher loan-to-value mortgages, the current cost of borrowing is only marginally higher than tracker products. Fixed rate plans are without doubt becoming more popular especially with the investor with multiple properties.

A recent survey of landlords showed they are looking to the long term and wanting to know the outgoings will be fixed, thus giving stability.

Landlords faced a restriction in product numbers during lockdown but now lenders are reintroducing competitive buy-to-let deals.

Landlords looking to expand

The proportion of landlords looking to expand their portfolios is higher than the percentage who are looking to scale back for the first time in four years. The survey of 900 landlords found that 19% of landlords are looking to add to their portfolio in the next year, while 17% are planning to sell at least one property.

The percentage planning to sell is down from the previous two quarters and back to the same level seen in Q2 2020.

Landlords with between 11 and 19 properties are likely to be the most acquisitive as 31% are planning purchases, while 28% of those with 20 or more properties intend to buy more in the next year.

Meanwhile, 26% of landlords operating in the East Midlands and the 24% of those operating North East are planning purchases. Despite landlords in Wales reporting higher tenant demand, 28% are planning to sell property in the next year.

Greener the better for landlords

The older the landlord the more interest they have in green mortgages, shows research from Mortgages for Business.

When asked, just 40% of landlords under 35 years old of 300 said that they are interested in green mortgages.

This percentage increases with age: 67% of those asked between 45 years old and 54 years old said they were interested, while 75% of participants 65 years old or older replied in the affirmative.

Broken down between the sexes, 56% of women landlords claim to be interested in green mortgages and 64% of men do.

Both cohorts have gained interest over time. These landlords were also asked how interested they were when they first began investing in property – here, 15 per cent of women landlords were and 7 per cent of male landlords were interested.