Rental demand up again

The latest figures from MoneySupermarket.com show that demand in the rental sector continues to soar.

Five per cent more people are renting properties today than in October last year, the price comparison website has found.

It blamed tightened lending criteria and falling loan-to-value ratios for driving many people out of the mortgage market and into lets.

According to the website, more than one in ten people who had intended to get on the property ladder now feel doing so is implausible and are resigned to renting instead.

But according to Louise Cuming, head of mortgages at moneysupermarket.com, wider difficulties in the market mean it's not all good news for buy-to-let investors.

"You would imagine this would mean the buy-to-let market would start to grow; however, our research shows the number of buy-to-let products has decreased from 4,025 to 674 in just one year.

She continued: "As stringent lending pushes people into the buy to let market, the decrease in the number of buy-to-let mortgages becomes increasingly alarming - I fear we will soon see many people unable to buy or rent - the question is, where do they go from there?"

News posted on 6th May, 2008