Last updated at 17:31, Friday, 13 July 2012

There are now almost as many private rented properties in England as there are social houses.

Around 34 per cent of England’s entire housing stock is made up of properties to rent and the English Housing Survey shows that for the first time the private rented sector and social sector are roughly equal in size – each providing about 17 per cent of the total.

Since 2001, the number of homes in the private rented sector has risen from 2.2m to 3.7m.

Over the same period, housing association properties have increased from 1.4m to 2m, and council-owned properties have fallen from 2.8m to 1.8m – giving a total of 3.8m social houses.

So there are good opportunities for buy-to-let investment, and Joe Bell, negotiator with BPK estate agents in Carlisle, says cheaper houses are often bought by those who want to rent them out rather than live in them themselves.

“We do have quite a few buy to letters.

“Any property under £100,000 attracts people in the buy to let market.”

Mr Bell says most people entering buy to let market were older people who had built up a lot of equity in their own homes and so could afford another.

But he added: “I sold a house recently to a lad in his early 20s who was buying to let.

“If you are in a good position, where you’ve got access to cash, then it’s a good time to go into it.”

However, Piers Morton, senior valuer with H&H King, is noticing fewer buy to let sales and more houses bought by owner-occupiers.

He believes buy to let investors are purchasing from estate agents less often than they used to.

“Buy to let was part of the bread and butter of the market at one time,” he says. “A lot of people dabbled in the renting market, thinking it was quite easy.

“But now those people are trying to buy properties at auctions, where they hope to pick up a bargain for £60,000 to £70,000.”

Alan Ward of the Registered Landlords’ Association believes the buy to let market needs to grow as more people seek out rented property.

“While the number of properties in the sector has increased by over a million in 10 years, all the figures persistently show a chronic shortage of private rented accommodation, denying tenants genuine choices,” he warned.

First published at 14:06, Friday, 13 July 2012
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk