Opportunity for P2P platforms as landlords start to sell
One in five landlords are planning to sell property in response to the financial impact of Covid, creating an opportunity for peer-to-peer property platforms to increase their transactions.
According to a new report from Simply Business, more than half (51 per cent) of landlords have lost out on rental income due to Covid-19 and 47 per cent have already lost between £2,001 and £10,000 as a result of the pandemic.
Only eight per cent of landlords say they’ve purchased property since the start of Covid and just seven per cent plan on buying property in the coming months, with 56 per cent believing that property prices will get higher as a result of the pandemic.
Filip Karadaghi, managing director of LandlordInvest, said that if landlords sell that would result in more transactions and it’s likely other landlords would purchase the properties.
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“There will be more transactions if people want to sell so that’s more lending and that’s good news for us,” he said.
“We’d expect to support the buyers which are hopefully other individuals buying it as investment properties.”
Alan Thomas, UK chief executive at Simply Business, said that the pandemic has impacted rental income, but landlords are resilient.
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“It comes as no surprise that a fifth of landlords are planning to sell property as a direct result of Covid-19,” he said.
“Contributing over £16bn annually in pre-tax spending, an exodus of smaller landlords from the buy-to-let market could have a devastating impact on the UK economy. But more than this, landlords are crucial to our communities, offering much-needed accommodation to over 4.4 million households.
“Thankfully, for the most part landlords remain resilient – 59 per cent of landlords still think property is a worthwhile investment, while almost a third are optimistic about their future letting property.”