Two in five (40%) letting agents expect rental supply to drop over the next five years, research from the Association of Residential Letting Agents has found.
As announced in the Autumn Statement new buy-to-let landlords will have to pay a 3% stamp duty surcharge from March 2016, while the amount of mortgage tax relief higher rate tax payers can claim back will be cut from 45% to 20% from 2017 to 2020.
David Cox, managing director, Association of Residential Letting Agents, said: “This month’s findings are triggered the Chancellor’s announcements around buy-to-let tax in his Autumn Statement.
“When the rabbit was first pulled out of the hat, we said these changes would be ‘catastrophic’ for the rental sector and this has been echoed by letting agents across the country.
“The new stamp duty increases will make owning a BTL unprofitable for a lot of landlords, and certainly make new investors think twice about purchasing a BTL property.”
In the short-term the market has been faring well, as the supply of rental accommodation increased by 9% in November. The situation is less rosy in the capital however, where ARLA manages just 121 properties per branch compared to 189 for the UK as a whole.
