Semi-detached houses have overtaken terraced homes as the most popular properties with landlords looking to buy, as tenants search for more space.
Research firm BVA BDRC’s survey of 800 landlords for Paragon Bank found that of the 14% who are on the acquisition hunt this year, 40% want to buy semi-detached homes – up from 32% at the start of the pandemic.
If found that 39% are after terraced houses, while detached houses have also grown in popularity during the past two years, up from 9% in Q2 2019 to 18% in Q4 2021.
Other property types on landlords’ wish-list include individual flats (17%) and HMOs (16%).
Activity versus size
The survey also found that the likelihood of being active in the property market increases in line with portfolio size; 8% of single property landlords expect to buy during the next year, increasing to 24% among those with a portfolio of 11 or more homes.
Meanwhile, 52% plan to buy a property within a limited company structure.
Richard Rowntree, mortgages MD, says it has seen a trend for larger homes due to the prevalence of home working, along with more families who are selling their home to relocate and renting before they buy.
He adds: “We may also be seeing landlords anticipating the planned changes to energy performance rating of property and targeting homes that are either meeting the planned minimum EPC level C or those that will be easier to upgrade than terraced homes.
“It will be interesting to see whether this trend continues in the coming months.”
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