Buy-to-let continues to boom

Interest in the UK’s buy-to-let sector remains strong, despite George Osborne’s changes to mortgage tax relief in July’s Budget. 

According to online price comparison site Comparethemarket.com, enquiries for buy-to-let products have hugely accelerated in 2015, with a 20% uplift in enquiries in the first eight months of the year compared to the same period in 2014. Furthermore, July and August witnessed a 52% increase in interest compared to the same months last year, refuting the claim that the buy-to-let reforms would dampen investor appetite in this market.

April’s pension freedoms, too, have helped to drive up demand. In the three months before the changes, Comparethemarket saw only a 3% rise in interest year-on-year. However, between April and June interest shot up to 23%.

“Figures seem to have confounded expectations in the aftermath of the Summer Budget changes, and April’s pension freedoms have significantly contributed to the remarkable year-on-year increase in buy-to-let enquiries,” said Jody Baker, Head of Money at Comparethemarket.com.

Earlier this year it was predicted that, by 2025, more than half of people aged 20-39 will be renting property in the UK rather than owning. The changing face of home ownership in Britain is helping to boost investment in the private rented sector, with the popularity of buy-to-let showing no signs of abating anytime soon.