January 26, 2009
Lettings Market Fares Well Despite Gloomy Prospects
Despite the fact that the UK economy is currently in nose-dive, the UK lettings market has fared considerably well according to the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA).
Its members were able to profit from the rising number of vendors desperate to sell and the below market value property market flourished in 2008. But towards the end of last year, with the lack of liquidity in the market there were considerable regional fluctuations in the UK lettings market.
ARLA is predicting that 2009 will be a year of both opportunity and challenges for UK landlords.
It predicts that although the first half of 2009 will remain relatively week, the second half of the year will become more robust.
As property prices and interest rates have continued to fall, yields are now increasing and more and more property investors are coming back into the market, especially when considering the other investment opprtunities such as savings and the stock market
This summary tends to confirm my predictions for 2009 - let's wait and see!!
