Landbay
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Supplier advice
The UK rental market outlook in 2018
A changing rental market has knock-on effects for renters and for letting agents, as Mark Goddard of ZPG Property Services explains.
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Latest property news
Zoopla-backed Landbay launches landlord mortgages
Peer-to-peer (P2P) buy-to-let mortgage lender Landbay has launched a new range of products for professional landlords that meet new tighter lending regulations set by the Prudential Regulation Authority that came into force in this week. These require rent to be 125% of mortgage payments at 5.5% APR and are yet another squeeze on the buy-to-let sector. The move by Landbay, which gained full FCA authorisation on 22 December last year after launching in April, comes after Zoopla invested a ‘six figure sum’ in the company. Zoopla also now promotes Landbay’s P2P offering via its ‘investment channel’ on Zoopla.co.uk. “The buy to let market is set to become more complex in 2017, as landlords face an increasingly intricate lending landscape and tighter regulation,” says Landbay’s Chief Lending Officer Paul Clampin (pictured). “It’s in such a context that borrowers and brokers need solutions that meet their changing needs, so these new products have been designed to do just that for the growing number of professional landlords.” Landbay was one of four ‘promising and innovative start-ups’ that Zoopla pumped £1m into during February last year. The other three include online mortgage adviser Trussle, property management softwre company Fixflo and housing data firm Property…
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Latest property news
CML predicts fewer buy-to-let property purchases in 2017
The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) says the number of houses bought by landlords next year is likely to fall as several headwinds reduce demand for buy-to-let property. This includes the recently-introduced additional 3% Stamp Duty for buy-to-let purchases, the Prudential Regulation Authority’s buy-to-let lending stress tests starting on January 1st, and the new and less generous tax allowances for landlords, which kick off in April next year. Consequently, CML director general Paul Smee (pictured, below) says that although the overall mortgage market is resilient and will ‘plateau’ during 2017, buy-to-let lending is to likely to decline. The CML predicts that total lending for all types of mortgages in 2017 will be £248 million, approximately the same as 2016, before increasing in 2018 to £252 billion. But lending for new buy-to-let purchases is to decline in both 2017 and 2018, it says. “We expect any modest strengthening in home-owner lending to be rather offset by a less active house purchase market in buy-to-let, as both tax and regulatory changes bite on landlords,” says Paul. But lending is not the only dial on the buy-to-let market to be going down. Lender Landbay says average UK rental growth during 2016 halved from 2.34% to…
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Products & Services
Zoopla, Countrywide and Connells partner with Proptech firms
Zoopla, Countrywide, Connells, Fixflo, Property Detective, Trussle and Landbay are to work together in a series of investments and collaborations to bring further services to consumers. FixFlo, the UK’s leading online repair reporting platform, will provide ZPG agent members with tools to help them manage tenant maintenance issues more effectively; PropertyDetective is a supplier of property and neighbourhood research reports and they will provide more in depth property data to Zoopla users and agents; MD and founder of PropertyDetective, Barry Bridges said, “Our reports are now recognised by the industry and consumers alike as the best residential property reports you can get your hands on, full of useful information about the local area, giving an unbiased and genuinely useful picture of the facts that anyone moving home should be making themselves familiar with BEFORE moving home. Today, we start bringing those reports and our insight to a national audience of millions.” Landbay is a leading peer-to-peer lender for property, which will allow ZPG users to invest in the UK residential property market from as little as £100; Trussle, the UK’s first online mortgage adviser, will help ZPG users find the best value mortgages for their needs. Alex Chesterman (right), Founder…
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Housing Market
Supply shortage leads to rise in rental prices
Private rents in the UK rose by the fastest rate in almost three years in September, as the severe housing shortage continued to place upward pressure on rental values across the UK. The latest figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) reveal that the cost of renting private accommodation increased by 2.7 per cent in the year to September, the biggest jump since November 2012. The biggest increases in rents were recorded in London, where prices rose by an average of 4.1 per cent year-on-year. “When people say the UK needs more homes, the true meaning is usually that London needs more homes,” said Andrew Bridges, Managing Director of Stirling Ackroyd. The increase in rental prices in the capital was almost half as much as the average rise of 2.8 per cent recorded across the rest of England, and significantly outstripped increases in Scotland of 1.6 per cent and Wales of 0.5 per cent. “For landlords and buy-to-let investors, the story has been one of consistent rental increases, with no notable dip in growth levels since 2014,” said John Goodall (left), CEO and Co-Founder of buy-to-let mortgage lender Landbay. “The big trends pushing up rents are the booming job…
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