Over half of landlords (52%) feel positive about the market whilst only 16% felt negative, Your Move’s Landlord Sentiment Survey has found.
An additional 30% felt indifferent about being a landlord in the current economic and political climate.
This highlights that landlords remain largely confident in their outlook, despite the influx of regulatory changes over the past few years and changes to the wear and tear allowance, additional stamp duty surcharges on second properties and stricter portfolio lending introduced last year.
Martyn Alderton, national lettings director at Your Move and Reeds Rains, said: “Given the number of regulatory and tax changes in the buy-to-let market over the last few years, it wouldn’t be surprising if landlords felt some trepidation about the future.
“However, it’s great to see that the landlords we surveyed do, for the most part, remain positive about the future.
“Our research shows the majority of landlords are in it for the long term and that’s important for the well-being of the Private Rental Sector, providing much needed homes for those who cannot yet afford, or do not wish to purchase due to lifestyle choices."
The two most important considerations to landlords are ongoing maintenance and upkeep costs (83%) and the potential to make long-term profit (80%). In comparison, the least important factors are the tenant fee ban (43%) and the potential impact of Brexit (32%).
Despite these concerns, most landlords are deciding to hold out and think about the long-term when it comes to their investment –nearly two thirds of landlords (64%) revealed they are unlikely to sell a property in the next year.
