For property investors across the UK, the news they’ve received hasn’t always been the news they wanted to hear. The Chancellor took the opportunity to use his Summer Budget to slash mortgage interest relief for landlords.
He followed that up in the Autumn Statement by announcing a three per cent hike in stamp duty on buy-to-let properties . There’s also the matter of changes to wear and tear tax rules , which slipped under the radar a little but are significant nonetheless.
Yet, despite all this, property investors haven’t let the Chancellor’s sentiment dampen their activity.
We recently saw a report surface from the Bank of England which showed that buy-to-let lending was approaching its pre-crisis peak . No sign of a slowdown in demand there then.
In fact, it’s possible that George Osborne’s legislation, which was designed to dampen demand, has in fact had the opposite effect – spurring investors on to make their move before they have to incur an increase of three per cent tax on purchases they make. It will be interesting to look at the figures as they play out into the New Year to see if this is the case.
Certainly at auction houses across the country there has been no sign that property investors are feeling down and out. On the contrary, many auction houses have been buzzing hives of activity. At Together, we lent £60.6 million at auction from June 2014 to June 2015 and have enjoyed strong lending in the second half of 2015 too.
So despite changes in legislation, which many may have expected to quash the mood of optimism around the industry, what we’ve actually seen is a year of strong performance. High demand for buy-to-let property leading to high-demand for finance which has been met by specialist lenders with a strong appetite to lend.
Away from industry conditions themselves, there’s been another reason why 2015 has been particularly memorable for me – the big changes at Together.
Cast your mind back and, at a stretch, you might be able to remember a time before Together. A time when I blogged as the director of Auction Finance! A lot has changed since then, as you’ve no doubt seen, but a lot has stayed the same too.
Rather than an umbrella of different brands, we took the opportunity in 2015 to consolidate into one brand and one unified offering. It’s been a very exciting time for us all at Together and provides just another reason why 2015 will live long in the memory.
As we look forward to 2016, we’re hopeful of continued strong performance in the buy-to-let industry. House prices look set to continue to rise, a trend which means that there’s plenty of reason to be optimistic that bricks and mortar will remain an attractive proposition for investors.
As an industry, we can look back on 2015 as a year where many things changed but positive results shone through. If we can say the same at the end of next year too, then there will be plenty of cause for good cheer.
Before we get to that though, there are festivities to enjoy. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
