Confidence about investing in property continues to grow, as many property investors, including buy-to-let landlords, predict a good year ahead for the UK housing market, despite various challenges, fresh research shows.

A new survey undertaken by Shawbrook Bank, which focuses on the outlook for 2017 from property professionals and the expectations they have for their own investments, found that 81% of landlords feel confident that their property portfolios will perform well this year.

Many property investors are feeling broadly confident about the prospects for the property market, thanks in part to improvements in the lending environment, Shawbrook said.

Helping to boost this optimistic outlook, investors revealed that tenant demand remains strong with nearly one out of three (30%) landlords seeing an increase in renters when comparing the first half of 2016 to the second. As well as this, half of all buy-to-let landlords have also seen increasing rental income over the last year.

This feeling of confidence extends to property professionals looking to invest in the buy-to-let market, with 66% of respondents stating that they plan to acquire an additional buy-to-let property during the first half of this year, in spite of various tax changes and potential political upheaval following the Brexit decision.

Karen Bennett, managing director of commercial mortgages at Shawbrook Bank, said: “Despite uncertainty surrounding Brexit, landlords are still optimistic about the performance of their portfolios. With Brexit negotiations officially underway, as well as recent changes to housing policy, it is encouraging that the market doesn’t seem to be slowing.

“Following last year’s tax changes it’s clear that investors are still getting a feel for how the changes will affect them.

“It is also evident that landlords have made an effort to understand how these new policies affect the way they do business, although the fact that 19% of those asked have little or no understanding of these changes means there is still work to be done.”