Landlords struggle to raise finance to expand...

20 October 2010

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3 Comments

Written by rosalind renshaw

More than six out of ten landlords are finding it difficult to get finance to expand their portfolios.

Their frustrations are underlined in a new report from specialist buy-to-let lender Paragon, which has only recently reopened its books after an 18-month gap, its absence adding to landlords’ difficulties.

The report makes it clear that landlords remain confident, with 40% reporting rising demand for rental accommodation and 42% believing that demand will be higher still this time next year.

The report, covering the three months to the end of September, found that only 17% of landlords are finding it easy to raise money to fund new purchases, but 63% are finding it difficult.

Nevertheless, the average number of properties in a portfolio ticked up during the period, from 12 in the second quarter to 12.5 in the third. The average investment portfolio had a value of £1.45m, with the average gearing – the level of borrowing as a proportion of value – steady at 37%.

Comments

- Roger Ball
Ah, pity the poor darlings that they can't expand their portfolios.

Life sure is tough for some people.
- 21 October 2010 23:22 PM
- Gavin
Good they can't get the fiance, lots more will go bust as their equity evaporates in the price falls. These homes should be for first time buyers.

Buy to let is a cancer on society.
- 21 October 2010 18:39 PM
- Mike Wilson
Average portfolio 12 properties eh? Just think if everyone had a portfolio with 12 properties .... no, wait, hold on a minute, that wouldn't be possible would it? If some people own 12 properties it would mean that only 1 person in 12 would own and the other 11 would have to rent.
Doesn't seem right to me.

And to you youngsters working in estate agents, hoping to clamber on board the property ladder one day, just remember you are having to outbid people with a lot more equity than you.

Looks like you'll sell them to landlords and ensure you rent all your lives. Good for you yes?

Maybe one day people will realise that in a country with very strict planning laws, with the control of the supply of property absolutely in the iron grip of government, that the idea of one person owning 12 properties is just plain wrong.

Maybe one day youngsters will get fed up with the cards they have been dealt and take what should be theirs by right, by force. You never know. Stranger things have happened in the past.
- 21 October 2010 16:56 PM