RICS forecast surge in demand form buy to let will push up house prices!
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Buy to let sales to push up house prices?
RICS Surveyors are seeing a surge in demand from buy-to-let investors which they expect to push up house prices. Buy-to-let investors face a 3% surcharge on stamp duty from April.
The Royal Institution for Chartered Surveyors (RICS) said the number of homes coming onto the market was insufficient to meet demand from landlords aiming to beat the deadline. Various figures have shown an increase in buy-to-let mortgage lending in recent months. New buyer enquiries rose for the 10th month in a row in January, accelerating for a second successive month, the survey of Rics' members found. Housing experts have been predicting that prospective landlords will move as quickly as possible to complete purchases before the extra stamp duty on second home purchases kicks in.
74% of RICS surveyors who responded to the survey expected there to be an increase in purchases from landlords before April. Although the number of homes coming onto the market did picked up slightly in January, this was outstripped by demand and would result in prices rising,
RICS chief economist Simon Rubinsohn commented "The near-term pressure on prices is if anything intensifying despite a higher level of supply. How the tax changes planned for the buy-to-let sector over the next few years play out remains to be seen but there are concerns raised in the survey that some existing landlords will look to either gradually scale back on their portfolios or exit the market altogether as the more penal regime begins to bite. Against this backdrop, it is perhaps not surprising that the key RICS indicators point to further rent - as well as house price - increases."
Tony Wing DipSurv MRICS FNAEA
Sales Director
Lincoln Office
Email: tonywing@robert-bell.org
Tel: 01522 538888
Twitter: @robertbellandco
