Three in ten landlords see the Covid-19 pandemic as an opportunity

Figures from the research by The Mortgage Lender, despite the Covid-19 crisis, the number of landlords willing to increase their property portfolio has remarkably grown 71% this year.

According to the survey, 19% of landlords intend to increase their portfolios over the next 12 months compared to 12% who were looking to add buy-to-let properties in April last year. 35% of landlords find Covid-19 problematic, but in fact it hasn’t affected investment plans of half of investors. 25% of respondents said it somehow had changed their plans and 25% said it had changed their plans completely.

In general, the number of landlords seeking to sell their properties declined from 16% in April last year to 14% now. Those looking to maintain has also gone down from 72% to 67%, with the resulting 7% difference accounting for the uptick in landlords who want to expand their portfolios.

The Mortgage Lender sales director Steve Griffiths said: “We’ve seen the evidence in our own application figures that many landlords see COVID-19 as a blip rather than a reason to change their long-term plans and our research bears this out.

“And it’s important for those landlords and their brokers that there is a competitive specialist market for their business that comes with strong financial backing.

“With a strong funding line, we have been able to operate in the buy to let market throughout the pandemic and help those landlords who want to capitalize on what they see as an opportunity.”