11
Oct
Private rental growth to plateau
Although buoyed by buyers' enthusiasm for buy to let mortgages, the
private rental sector will never be as large as those of foreign
countries, it has been claimed.
According to Malcolm Harrison, spokesman for the Association of
Residential Letting Agents, the private rental sector was in dire
straits being revived by Britons’ keenness for buy to let
mortgages.
He said: "By the end of the eighties the private rental sector had
nearly died, and it picked up through the nineties. Then buy-to-let
gave it a boost primarily by bringing better standards into the
rental sector."
The growth of the sector that has recently been apparent is
unlikely to be maintained in future however, meaning that we will
not see the UK private rental market become as large as it is in
some European countries, Mr Harrison predicted.
"I don't think we'll ever get to the proportion of renting that you
see in Europe, and North America, actually," he said.
"All our forecasts suggest that the private rented sector will
increase from its current 11 per cent of all housing to round about
15 per cent of all housing in the next ten years."
