UK property investors turn to lettings

UK Property investors are focussing their interests on lettings as the sales market falters, a new reports says. Statistics from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) shows owners are turning back to renting properties that have failed to sell.

Many appear to be taking advantage of rising rental yields while they wait for the effect of the credit crunch to abate. RICS spokesperson James Scott-Lee said:

“The sales market’s loss is the lettings market’s gain.

“Some would-be sellers are retreating from selling and letting or re-letting their properties as they wait for mortgage lenders to offer buyers more favourable lending criteria.”

He added rent rates are rising and called the lettings market

“increasingly lucrative”.

A total of 28 per cent more chartered surveyors reported a rise rather than a fall in tenant lettings, up from 17 percent in the last quarter. RICS has 140,000 members globally and represents, regulates and promotes the work of property professionals throughout 146 countries.

The organisation’s latest figures could show a way out for some property investors who have failed to sell on homes. As the housing market continues to fall, more and more would-be first-time buyers are likely to be heading into rented property, presenting a promising potential income boost for some investors.