7
Apr
Scottish buy-to-let 'in good shape'
The buy-to-let market has been helped as a result of the credit
crunch and the tightening lending conditions that have come with
it, Rettie & Co has claimed.
Investors in the area have typically looked at new-build
properties, lettings manager at the firm Diarmid Mackenzie Smith
said, with yields of three to four per cent.
And first-time buyers are being driven back into the rental market
because prices are too high, he noted.
He added that more than 95 per cent of the homes let by the firm in
the opening quarter of this year have been in the rental
market.
"Investors and landlords, in general, will welcome this long
overdue increase [in rental demand], which will provide a much
needed boost to this sector and will undoubtedly encourage further
investment," he commented.
According to the Bank of Scotland's Scottish House Price Index,
property prices grew in the country in the fourth quarter of 2007
by 2.4 per cent.