Research from Lomond has revealed that two weeks on from the Autumn Budget, fewer landlords are looking to exit the sector.
2024 has arguably been the worst year for landlords, or so we might’ve thought. New research from Lomond, a group of leading Lettings and Sales Agents across the UK, shows the number of tenanted properties listed for sale has fallen by as much as 3% across some areas of the market.
To conduct the research, the company analysed current properties listed for sale with a tenant in situ and how this level of for sale stock has changed since the Budget.
When the Budget was first revealed and the hike of capital gains tax was confirmed, fears spread that the decision would drive landlords from the sector.
However, these fears were laid to rest when it was confirmed that increase to capital gains tax would not apply to residential property, although second homebuyers and buy-to-let investors were hit with a 2% increase in stamp duty costs when buying.
In fact, in the two weeks that have followed the Budget there has been a marginal decline of -0.6% in the number of properties listed for sale across England with a tenant in situ.
This 14-day reduction in rental stock listings climbs as high as 3% in the East of England, with the Southwest (-2.5%) and Northeast (-1.9%) also seeing notable reductions.
What’s more, a further four regions have seen a reduction in tenanted for sale stock in the last two weeks, though this can’t be said for the Midlands. A jump of 1.4% was experienced in the East Midlands and an increase of 0.8% in the West.
CEO of Lomond, Ed Phillips, said: ‘It’s becoming fairly apparent that the exodus of buy-to-let landlords has been somewhat exaggerated, and the vast majority continue to see the rental sector as a secure and consistent avenue of investment, despite the government’s best efforts to dent profitability.
‘The good news is that having escaped a capital gains tax increase, we simply haven’t seen a rush for the door following the Autumn Budget.
‘We expect the buy-to-let landscape will continue to remain positive now that the budget dust has settled.’
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