Number of second home owners to double

The number of people who own a second property in the UK is set to double by 2010 as more people cash in on the demand for rental property, according to a new survey.

Market research found that 3% of all homeowners are thinking of buying another property to let to tenants in the next two to three years, which would take the number of private landlords to two million. Buy-to-let has been a rising trend over the past decade, during which time the price of an average home has soared. In 1998, when the term was first coined and the market was in its infancy, there were 28,000 buy-to-let mortgages in existence, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders. This compares to the 330,000 buy-to-let mortgages taken out last year alone.

Today, the total number of buy-to-let mortgages stands at 850,000, which amounts to 9% of all mortgages. A senior financial analyst, said: "It is clear that these days buy-to-let is no longer the exclusive domain of professional portfolio landlords. "Increasingly, property owners are seeing the benefits of investing in bricks and mortar and often regard the second homes market as a good alternative means of saving for retirement. "As long as these trends continue, future growth in this market should be guaranteed."

A report earlier this year by GE Money Home Lending asked UK mortgage brokers for their outlook of the next 12 months, with three quarters claiming that buy-to-let will be the most important growth opportunity in 2007. GE Money Home Lending's mortgage sales director described the figures as "good news" for the market. "Not only is buy-to-let continuing to outperform the market as a whole, but with increasing demand, rising rents and a greater desire to invest in bricks and mortar it looks set to remain a growing area in the future." But the sale of starter homes to existing homeowners can have a devastating effect on first-time buyers, reducing supply and potentially driving up prices further. To compare remortgages that can help you to release the equity tied up in your home to buy a second home visit our specialist remortgage website.

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