Quick guide to: Buy-to-let mortgages

BEST PERFORMING ASSET CLASS Buy-to-let has outperformed every other asset class for investors since lenders launched the first property investment mortgages 18 years ago, with Paragon Mortgages, a specialist landlord lender, revealing an average return on investment of 16 per cent a year during that time. Over the same time, yields from equities hit 6.8 per cent a year; bonds returned 6.5 per cent, and cash in the bank produced 4 per cent. The report also revealed that since 1996, banks, building societies and specialist lenders have agreed mortgages worth almost £175 billion against 1.5 million private rental homes. “Buy-to-let mortgages have become such an integral part of today’s mortgage market,” said Paragon Director, John Heron. With Paragon’s research also projecting that landlords will earn an average yield of around 11 per cent for the foreseeable future, it is easy to understand why so many people are now investing in buy-to-let. RETIREMENT INCOME Some 75 per cent of landlords now view their property as their pension, according to BDRC Continental, with separate  research from buy-to-let specialist Platinum Property Partners showing that investors expect income from their rental properties to bolster their annual retirement income by an average of £19,785, or 56 per cent. “A…