Buy-to-lets remain resilient

I can’t help wondering if and when the time will come when I don’t have to refer to the pandemic in some shape or form when writing a piece reflecting on the buy-to-let sector.

By this I certainly don’t mean we should ignore it, how could we? It’s been a turbulent period for many homeowners, tenants and landlords and it will be some time until we, as an industry and as an economy, get to grips with the fallout from this. In the meantime, we continue to filter through its lingering influence when it comes to the impact on rents, payments and voids, as evidenced in the recent National Landlord Index.

Let’s start with the Index. This uncovered new insights which showed that nearly a third of landlords (30.3%) across the UK have agreed to some form of rent reduction during the pandemic due to many tenants struggling with rental payments. The index also uncovered that 16.2% of those surveyed have some level of historic rental debt due to COVID-19 with the average rental arrears owed to landlords currently standing at £2,523.

Despite these struggles, the rental market remains extremely buoyant across the UK with an influx of tenants emerging as lockdown measures ease and the economy recovers. The Index certainly reflects an optimistic outlook from a landlord perspective with nearly a quarter (23.4%) of all UK landlords said to be considering expanding their portfolio and investing in at least one further property this year.

The figures tend to speak for themselves and despite a slight lull in the residential housing market on the back of the stamp duty holiday coming to an end, we are seeing sustained interest from a range of landlords, investors and developers. After all the trials, tribulations, and challenges that it has overcome in the past, we should not be shocked by the robust performance of the BTL sector in recent times. However, there is still reason to marvel at its resilience and ability to navigate whatever obstacles it faces and invariably come out the other side in an even stronger place.

It remains a sector that never ceases to amaze and always seems to deliver. A factor that many lenders are fully aware of, with competition heating up from a rate perspective. And this is a trend that will continue over the course of Q4 2021 to help encourage more landlords to expand their portfolios to meet growing tenant demand.