Summer Budget 2015 – Landlords Reactions

As we are all aware that, Barclays changed their stress rate couple of weeks ago in relation to Buy To Let lending and we suspected that other lenders will follow that suit...and looks like that is the case. Coventry Building Society has now joined the club and so will rest of lenders.

Ultimately this means we could stay on Lenders SVR and will be unable to switch products to better rate.

https://www.lettingagenttoday.co.uk/breaking-news/2015/12/another-buy-to-let-mortgage-lender-clamps-down-on-borrowers

Reply to the comment left by "Gordon Comstock" at "08/12/2015 - 18:26":

I totally agree with everything you said.

Also while US gun lobby has hundreds of millions supporters, btl in uk have maybe a few tens of thousands.

Article in the Guardian today:

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2015/dec/09/fergus-wilson-sells-buy-to-let-property-empire-foreign-consortium-landlord

Am I alone in thinking this is not an anti-landlord article?

Reply to the comment left by "Ros ." at "09/12/2015 - 13:18":

In the comments section, there was a link to an article written by Patrick Collinson in 2006. This is an interesting extract, I thought:

'This week Britain's biggest lender, Halifax, issued a warning that the unexpected surge in house prices witnessed in 2006 would not continue and that 2007 would see increases of 4% at most.

But Fergus Wilson predicts that prices will double every seven years and says the typical property he owns - a £200,000 two- to three-bed starter home - will cost £400,000 by 2013, £800,000 by 2020 and £1.6m by 2027.''

He got that wrong! From the evidence I've seen it looks like his average £200,000 home went up to £250,000 by 2015.

This is the link:

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2006/dec/16/business.houseprices

I find the predictions very amusing, when you have the benefits of hindsight. I remember being similarly optimistic when prices were rising. It did honestly feel like they would never stop going up - and then, boom - 2008! (or 2007, whenever - I don't care)

Reply to the comment left by "Ros ." at "09/12/2015 - 13:28":

Interesting article Ros, in Scotland prices are still below 2007 levels and are unlikely to recover until around 2020, the capital saw around a 30% drop and outliers which had reached ridiculous levels around 50% off peak, you will recall the RBS headquarters is in Edinburgh perhaps lending was overdone to increase profits

Reply to the comment left by "Simon " at "09/12/2015 - 14:03":

Simon, I'm not as optimistic regarding increase in values. Prices here in some parts of Manchester are still well below 2007 levels, and I really cant see them getting back there for a decade or more. There just isn't the appetite for first time buyers to buy terraced houses in run down areas - the only buyers that I can see are investors and they want them for nothing with high yields as you can imagine.

I may be wrong, but following the asset bubble in Japan in the late eighties/early nineties, property prices in some areas are still below those levels today!

The message in the press though is always very influenced by what is happening in London and the south-east. So there has been some speculation about a 'correction' in those areas; I think that at least in the areas where prices haven't risen and have either just got back to 2007 levels or haven't even recovered to that extent, that there will be no dramatic further drop. My houses in Cardiff seem to have recovered and gone maybe 5-10% higher than the 2007 peak, whereas my houses in the valleys either dropped or remained static in some areas, but I would say have recovered to the 2007 levels. On the other hand, as ML says, there isn't much of a FTB or any kind of OO demand for the terraced houses in the less salubrious areas, so the values can be quite academic (or lower in reality, if you have to sell).
It is annoying (to say the least) how policy is often decided with one area in mind or with a very generalised picture - especially this idea that landlords are in competition with FTBs and are fighting to buy the same properties. I would guess that that is the case in a tiny minority of cases. FTBs aren't chasing these terraced houses as ML and I know, but also they are not lusting after our HMOs.

Reply to the comment left by "Manchester Landlord" at "09/12/2015 - 14:29":

I completely agree with you. My Manchester properties are just about re-reaching their 2007 value now. Why would a first time buyer in Manchester buy a suburban Victorian terrace when they can buy a smart new-build with help to buy? On the other hand, these terraced properties are popular with tenants as the rents are fair and private landlords have spent money on improving standards.

Reply to the comment left by "Ros ." at "09/12/2015 - 15:07":

In my area of the "affluent South East" property prices are still less than half of their 2007/8 values. If I were to sell now I would make a substantial loss on all my property.

>David Price

Anyone reading the mainstream press alone would find that hard to believe David

Are there really many sold prices for similar houses on similar streets from 2007 / 2008 that are more than double sold prices achieved in 2015?