Happy Landlords Thank Property Price Rise

Landlords starting or building their buy-to-let portfolios may have been rushing round like mad hatters in order to beat the Stamp Duty deadline in April, but this has helped boost existing property investors according to some agents.

The latest Buy to Let Index from Your Move, shows the March rush to complete buy-to-let transactions means landlords sitting pretty will have seen total returns rise to 12.2% year-on-year.

This is up 10.7% from February and is also the fastest annual rate of return for existing landlords seen since November 2014, when the same measure last reached 12.3%.

While property prices may have increased, boosting total returns, rental yields have actually dropped from 5.1 % last year to 4.9% in March, the index reveals.

David Gascoyne, Sales and Lettings Manager at Residential Estates said “Good landlords will recognise that a tenancy is a mutually beneficial deal and align their interests with those of the tenant, therefore rents should not be extortionate just because the property is worth a bit more.'