FTBs benefit from landlords selling up

First-time buyers (FTBs) in the UK are benefiting from a trend which is seeing landlords selling their properties.

Statistics from Alliance and Leicester show that buy-to-let mortgage holders are beginning to sell some of their properties, with most making big profits.

According to the firm, ten per cent of landlords sold one property in the last two years, while 42 per cent of FTBs snapped up a landlord-owned house.

Head of specialist mortgages at Alliance and Leicester, Jeremy Claridge, is pleased that FTBs are taking their chance to get onto the property ladder.

“It is heartening to see that first time buyers are benefiting the most from the sale of buy-to-let properties with nearly half having bought from a landlord,” he said.

“With many believing the boom in buy-to-let has priced first time buyers out of the property market, the research highlights it is not all doom and gloom for first-time buyers. Instead, they are the group gaining the most.”

A quarter of landlords who sold their property in the last two years made a return of more than 30 per cent, with only two per cent reporting a loss.

This bodes well for the future of the buy-to-let market as does the fact that 29 per cent of landlord-owned properties sold since 2005 went to existing or new landlords.

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