Is it worth expanding your portfolio this winter?
22 December, 20140 Comments
Between falling prices, tax changes and a booming buy-to-let mortgage market, a winter purchase could well be worth Read more
Author Archives
Investing for long-term gain
01 May, 20140 Comments
Traditionally, buy-to-let has always offered two types of return. Thanks to appreciation, property tends to protect against inflation in the long term, whilst the ability to rent a property out to paying tenants means that it can pay for its own overheads and potentially generate a tidy profit in the meantime. However, in the years Read more
What the end of the annuity means for buy to let
24 March, 20140 Comments
On Wednesday 19 March 2014, Chancellor Osborne announced a budget that placed the ‘silver saver’ at the heart of the coalition’s endeavours. From the new single ISA with a boosted annual savings limit of £15,000 to the massive overhaul of the tax treatment of pension pots, the government’s message was clear: “we are (finally) going Read more
What current interest rates mean for landlords
20 February, 20140 Comments
Remember back in the day, when the Bank of England Base Rate was announced on a monthly basis and each announcement was surrounded by a circus of speculation and confusion? It seems a little daft now. After all, a shaky and uncertain market is never a good thing. But when Mark Carney took over as Read more
How will the Mortgage Market Review affect buy to let?
17 January, 20140 Comments
2014 is now upon us, which means that we’re on the final stretch before a new tax year. This means that it’s time for mortgage lenders to start gearing up for the biggest regulatory restructuring the mortgage market has seen in recent years – the Mortgage Market Review. Intended to both protect customers and prevent Read more
Stress testing your buy to let portfolio
08 January, 20140 Comments
Every landlord, whether they own a couple of properties or a couple of hundred, is running a business. Like any business, it’s a numbers game – and the numbers can often be unpredictable. When Mark Carney took over from Mervyn King as the Governor of the Bank of England on 1 July 2013, the economy Read more
Should you increase the rent?
15 November, 20130 Comments
Every business has its overheads. And whilst the cost of financing a rental property has, on average, decreased, other costs have shot up. Take energy, for instance. Back in October, SSE became the first of the ‘big six’ energy providers to pre-empt the winter months with a hike in energy prices (by an average of Read more
The Buy to Let Tracker Mortgage – Yesterday’s News?
15 October, 20130 Comments
If you follow the whims of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), you’ll have noticed last Tuesday (8th October) that they upgraded the UK’s growth forecast for this year. Specifically, they increased it to 1.4%, from 0.9% in July and from 0.7% six months ago, in April. This was despite a modest drop in the global Read more
Should you save or repay your debt?
20 September, 20133 Comments
To anyone with a passing interest in economics, the above question might seem like a daft one. Following the financial crisis, the Bank of England base rate nosedived by 4.5% in less than a year, and has been at an all-time low of 0.5% since the first quarter of 2009. Low interest rates punish savers, Read more