Landlords take advantage of buy-to-let growth

Published: February 11, 2008

Buy-to-let mortgages are proving a shrewd investment as the combined value of property held by landlords in Britain has been found to have increased by £5.79 billion a month over year-long period.

According to Sainsbury's Home Insurance, the collective value of landlords' rental properties increased from £571 billion in November 2006 to £641 billion in November 2007.

What's more, Sainsbury's analysis of Council of Mortgage Lenders figures suggests that buy-to-let investors are rushing to take advantage of this boom - between the first six months of 2004 and the first six months of 2007, the number of buy-to-let mortgages increased by 98 per cent.

Steve Johnson, head of home insurance at Sainsbury's Finance, said: "The buy-to-let market has grown substantially in recent years. People have invested a huge amount of money into this sector and as a result of rising house prices many have seen the value of this investment grow substantially."

Landlordsin London have seen the healthiest growth, with those in Wales found to be lagging behind.